More Bag Bans In California

More and more cities and towns throughout the state of California are adopting single-use plastic bag bans and the latest municipality to approve such a rule is Redwood City. Earlier this week the city council vote to approve a city wide ordinance that would ban all plastic bag use in retail businesses and would encourage restaurants to impose a fee for food take-out bags.

Retail businesses operating within the city have the choice to offer customers recycled bags made of paper or reusable plastic bags at a cost of ten cents a piece. After January 1, 2015, the required cost will increase to twenty five cents per bag. Patrons who receive California food stamps, welfare, or food assistance programs are exempt from having to pay the fees.

Store owners must show the bag charges on all customer receipts and maintain a record of all bags sold. Store owners who do not follow the regulation can be given a fine from one hundred to five hundred dollars depending on frequency and severity of the violation.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: As more communities embrace plastic bag bans it’s important for businesses that currently use them to start to formulate alternate plans. Instead of trying to fight “city hall” use a possible ban as a way to find cheaper, alternative solutions that will also be environmentally friendly. Be a leader in your community instead of someone scrambling at the last minute trying to follow!