Another One Bites the Dust

Herrrre weeee goOOoow (implied Mario Bros call)…! California cities are out of patience. That’s it. Done. Kaput. Finis. Ciao bella. Sayonara. Adios. EL FIN.

Bags are done. It was fun for a while, but let’s really get real. How many times can you put up with a pack of BPA-suckling inbreds with beet-stained teeth travelling 3000 miles to your little town just to sue you for tidying up your neighborhood? I think the towns’ residents reached have reached their limit, thankyouverrrymuch.

The city of Long Beach, with a grand measure of “encouragement” from the hard-hitting Long Beach Surfrider chapter, voted 6-2 (sorry, not even close) last week to fashion an ordinance to ban single-use plastic bags by next summer. Fabuloso Maximo!

So last month it was unincorporated LA County, now the city of Long Beach…who’ll be next…? Can you say "dominoes"? Hello Clean Beaches! Bravo Surfrider Long Beach!

California tried to be nice about this bag ban stuff this summer via AB1998 – in which the entire state could have had a nice uniform bag ban in place, but nooOOooo…the slack-jawed dingbats at the ACC had to make things difficult on everyone – AND now, themselves. They did their level-best to promote filthy neighborhoods by knocking that bill down with a landslide of payola, and now they should have their hands full suing every Golden State municipality that chooses to clean up their environs and reduce waste that ends up in the ocean. Gentlemen, start yer engines!

I can just hear the ACC parents telling their kids this holiday season, “Sorry Elwood, but we are being forced to spend your Christmas/Chanukah/Kwanzaa pony money to sue every city in California – please accept this thrift-store athletic-support garment instead of the pony this year, OK?...oh, by the way, do you have your law degree yet, hmmmmm?”. What a tired paradigm…perhaps one day they’ll find value in working with bag-banning cities instead of against them, ya think?

It's gettin' dusty out west - NICE!
[Queue the last two seconds of AC/DC’s Shot Down In Flames.]

Great News for California Bag-Banners!

As you may know, California's unique environmental laws have been used to staunch the tide of efforts to ban single-use plastic shopping bags. Essentially, money-grubbin' plastics manufacturers have been suing municipalities that attempt to enact a bag ban - pretty much saying, "Up your nose with a rubber hose, suckers! We want the money more than you need to clean up your neighborhoods and oceans!". Well, Green Cities California has produced something to assuage the $100,000-$300,000 cost of the lawsuits. It's called a "Master Environmental Assessment" and can be shared across cities and counties that wish to enact a ban w/o the high cost of American Chemistry Council (plastics manufacturers) lawsuits. Here's the announcement (WOO-HOO!):

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Dear Friend,

Today Green Cities California (GCC) released a Master Environmental Assessment (MEA) on the impacts of single-use and reusable bags.

The report - commissioned by GCC with the support and collaboration of multiple partners - was completed by ICF International. Set within the context of the California Environmental Quality Act, it will help jurisdictions prepare environmental impact reports, a critical step in the process to promote the use of reusable bags.

The MEA is available now for free on http://greencitiescalifornia.org/mea

Kind regards,

Carol Misseldine, Coordinator
Green Cities California

For Immediate Release

Contacts:

Carol Misseldine, Coordinator

Green Cities California (415)388-5273
Terry Rivasplata
ICF International
(916) 231-9537


Paper or Plastic? Neither!

New report will help cities promote reusable grocery bags

March 8, 2010 - Green Cities California (GCC) announced today the release of its Master Environmental Assessment (MEA) on Single Use and Reusable Bags. The MEA, commissioned by GCC and developed by ICF International's Sacramento office, summarizes existing studies on the environmental impacts of single use plastic, paper, compostable and reusable bags, as well as the impacts of policy options such as fees and bans on bags.

"This is a first-of-its-kind comprehensive compilation of existing studies on bags aligned within the context of CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act), which makes it useful in the preparation of local Environmental Impact Reports (EIRs)," said Terry Rivasplata of ICF International.

"All Environmental Impact Reports must begin with a survey of existing scientific literature," said Carol Misseldine. "For those jurisdictions that must prepare an EIR in order to adopt ordinances that promote the use of reusable bags, this MEA will provide essential assistance."

The MEA reviewed studies that document environmental impacts from the use of all four types of bags studied, including greenhouse gas emissions, persistent litter problems, marine life impacts, water consumption and ozone formation. The report also examined the impact of fees and bans and noted that bag use drops dramatically - up to 90% -- when stores charge for them.

Further studies referenced in the MEA indicate that reusable bags, on a per use basis, have substantially lower environmental impacts than single use bags. The study finds that even with a minimum of three uses, reusable bags can result in less atmospheric acidification, ground level ozone formation, water use, and greenhouse gas emissions.

"I'm getting calls from jurisdictions throughout California and even from other parts of the country interested in the information contained in this document," said Misseldine. "There seems to be a lot of interest nationwide in reducing single bag use."

"We're not going to recycle our way to a sustainable society," said Dean Kubani, GCC Steering Committee member and Director of Santa Monica's Office of Sustainability. "We need to orient away from single use and towards durable products. We are confident that this report will provide the documentation local governments need to adopt policies that encourage the use of reusable bags and phase out single use bags."

The full report, an executive summary and background information on the MEA will be available on Green Cities California's website on Monday March 8th at www.greencitiescalifornia.org/mea.