After Rohnert Park Rejects Bag Ban, Waste Agency Goes to Public for Support

Even though the to join other Sonoma County cities in a collective plastic bag ban, the Sonoma County Waste Management Agency is seeking public input to bring the idea back.

The agency this Friday is holding a public workshop at the Community Center, seeking comments from as many local residents and businesses as possible. This meeting — one of nine scheduled this month — begins at 6 p.m. March 23.

Since no significant statewide legislation to reduce litter and waste of these items has been adopted, the agency is taking steps to act locally, supporters of the countywide ban said in a statement.

But the city rejected the proposal in August, saying whether or not to use plastic bags should be a consumer choice — the market should decide whether or not they're used. In addition, the council noted the proposal's hefty pricetag and drawn-out environmental process.

The California Environmental Quality Act analysis would cost between $135,440 to $193,240 for the entire county. On top of that, cities would have to pay $137,000 for legal and enforcement costs.

That's between $121,020 and $174,280 for each individual city, according to a staff report presented in August.

The movement to ban the use of single-use plastic bags has been gaining traction statwide. Currently bans are in effect in Fairfax, Los Angeles County, Malibu, Manhattan Beach, Palo Alto and San Francisco, according to the report.

The waste agency reported that in "Sonoma County, paper and plastic carryout bag use is estimated at nearly 300 million bags per year, mainly plastic carryout bags – about 1.5 bags per Sonoma County resident per day."

"Even when placed in proper bins for disposal or recycling, carryout bags, especially those made of plastic, can become airborne," they wrote in a memo. "From there they often become litter or get entangled with landfill and recycling center equipment, requiring costly equipment repairs or work stoppage to clear the entanglement."

Mayor Jake Mackenzie said in August that "the evidence is overwhelming that one-use plastic bags present a huge environmental disaster," but he said the issue may be more about economics than the environment.

Editor's note: Check out the video on the right, where we asked local residents what they thought.