Recycling and Plastic Bag Ban

I serve as the Emeryville representative on the board of Stopwaste.org, the agency in Alameda County that supports increased diversion from the landfill of valuable materials, such as recycling and green waste. This board has 17 representatives from the cities, towns, county and sanitary districts in the county. Next month ( on Dec. 14), Stopwaste.org is considering 2 ordinances that will move Alameda County to the next level in terms of waste diversion. We are voting on a county-wide ordinance to ban plastic bags at many retail stores and to mandate recycling and composting to businesses and multi-family residences. Plastic bags are one of the greatest sources of pollution, as they easily blow around, even at the landfill, they create a real problem. They end up in the Bay and the ocean.

Both of these ordinances are designed to be phased in over time. Member agencies (the cities, towns, etc.) can opt-out of these ordinances if they wish, but I am hopeful that Emeryville will stay on board with both of these (City Council will consider this item on our Dec. 20 agenda), and see the amount of waste we landfill diminish as a result. By Stopwaste.org providing the outreach and legal documents, Alameda County jurisdictions gain from an economy of scale.

Both ordinances are supported by an Environmental Impact Report, which will also be adopted at that time. The plastic bag ban will require stores that provide a paper bag to charge a dime for the bag (the store keeps the dime), to provide an additional incentive for shoppers to remember their own reusable bag. It takes time and sometimes a nudge to change habits.

There will be a year of education and outreach surrounding this implementation. The support voiced at our public hearing last week, and in emails I have received, has been strong. We join a number of forward looking cities around the state and country. Our county-wide goal is to divert 75% of all waste out of the landfill. We are around 69% now (Emeryville is just above the county average at 70%). Eventually, we want to reduce the amount of recyclable and compostable material going to the landfill to be no more than 10%. In other words, if we can keep the "good stuff" out of the landfill, we can see economic benefits and job creation.