Some residents of the High Desert believe it is only a matter of time that the ban on plastic bags will be agendized by their own elected officials.
San Franciscso approved the first successful ban on plastic bags in supermarkets in 2007, and in May 2012 Los Angeles was the largest city in the country to ban single-use plastic shopping bags.
“This issue is being taken up at the local level in California as dozens of city councils and boards of supervisors consider similar resolutions banning single-use plastic bags,” according to an article published in a May 2013 newsletter from the City of Victorville Environmental Programs Division.
However, the article goes on to suggest, “Here in the high desert, animals get trapped in bags as the wind blows them around, or try to eat them due to food residue odors.”
The High Desert stage appeares to be primed for such a debate over limiting local consumers’ “choice at the checkout.”
The following email exchanges, which debate the ban on plastic bags, took place between a Huntington Beach resident and her city councilman on Sunday, Oct. 13. The emails were submitted with permission to be published by the Huntington Beach resident via a concerned relative who lives in the Victor Valley.
* * *
// Subject: Bag bans are still wrong for Huntington Beach
– Tracy Portillo to Councilman Joe Shaw – 10:52 AM
Dear Councilmember Shaw:
I’m a resident of Huntington Beach, and I’ve recently learned that the city council is considering moving forward with a plastic bag ban even though a particular misguided environmental group has not paid for the necessary Environmental Impact Report.
The cost of banning plastic bags is a waste of time — and of money from taxpayers like me. With all the issues facing our community, I believe that you have more important issues to focus on, especially when the misguided environmental group hasn’t met their obligation to reimburse the city.
Plastic bags make up a tiny fraction of the waste stream — less than 0.5% — and studies show that bans don’t keep plastic litter out of the landfill or the environment. Without plastic grocery bags, people just purchase replacement bags often made of thicker, heavier plastic and send those bags to the landfill, instead.
Plus, banning bags threatens the plastic bag manufacturing and recycling industry — an industry that directly employs 1,900 Californians and 30,000 Americans nationwide.
I urge you and your colleagues to not address this misguided ordinance, which limits choice at the checkout for all Surf City shoppers, increases our financial burden when we can least afford it and doesn’t help the environment. If you really want to address litter in Huntington Beach, let’s crack down on litterers and encourage people to recycle instead.
Sincerely
Tracy Portillo
* * *
– Councilman Shaw to Portillo – 10:58 AM
Huntington Beach will soon move forward with a reusable bag ordinance that would ban plastic bags in grocery and retail stores and impose a smallfee for the use of a paper bag.
What’s the problem? Plastic bags are convenient, cheap and designed to be discarded making them the perfect litter — an aerodynamic, virtually indestructible material that flies and floats its way to the North Pacific Center Gyre, a soupy mix of garbage in the Pacific Ocean. A recent study found an average of 334,271 pieces of plastic per square mile are circulating in the Gyre.
Which is bad for marine life that swallow plastic debris, because it can’t be digested. Plastic marine debris affects 267 species worldwide: 86 percent of all sea turtle species, 44 percent of all sea birdspecies, and 43 percent of marine mammal species.
And at beach clean-ups statewide, the second most picked up item? Plastic bags! The county, sanitation district and the city have spent millions to make our beaches and oceans cleaner and safer for our families and our visitors. With this ordinance, we have a chance to reduce the amount of debris on our beaches by as much as 10 percent and at a very small cost.
Huntington Beach residents have always embraced their natural environment— saving and restoring wetlands on both sides of our city. We’ve fought for more open space and for a cleaner ocean.
Our city has saved millions by installing solar and usingenergy more wisely. Our residents lead in water conservation and many were the first to own electric vehicles.
Reusable bag ordinances have been passed in nearly 70 municipalities up and down the California coast. Our residents are more than ready to say good-bye to the plastic bag
Joe
* * *
– Portillo to Councilman Shaw – 11:58 AM
Dear Joe,
Thank you for your email response below, but NOT every resident is ready to say good-bye to plastic bags. I find it interesting that we cannot ban the use of guns in our communities, but we can take away the right of a tax paying citizen to choose whether to use a plastic bag or a paper bag in their own personal life. I believe in protecting the environment, but I do not believe that is what you are going to accomplish. Whether you believe it or not, the city council will make it harder for our local merchants, as banning the types of bags the customer can use will make it harder to shop in Huntington Beach.
I work in Long Beach and I no longer shop their due to the fact I am held hostage by their plastic bag ban. I either have to pay additional money to shop in Long Beach or carry my items without a bag. Once the ban is in place in Huntington Beach, where I live, I will no longer shop in Huntington Beach, but shop in another city where their City Council has not overstepped their authority of voting their personal values opposed to what the people want. We are not children, but tax paying citizens, who should be able to make their own choice of whether to use plastic or paper bags!
You do not just represent the environmentalist, but all citizens. Don’t get me wrong, I hate people who throw cigarettes out of the car window, people who do not use trash cans and people who think our resources are limitless, but I can respect that we all have difference values. This point is exactly why I volunteer to clean up the beach, pick-up trash on the highway and teach my children not to throw plastic bags into the trash, but to recycle them. This ban will not stop the people who do not care about the environment, but will punish the people who are responsible citizens.
Please note that statistics can be skewed to support whatever cause/point you want to make, which is exactly how I read your response below. The fact of the matter is you have infringed on my right of choice as a citizen of the United States and a tax paying member of the Huntington Beach Community. I am very disappointed in the Huntington Beach City Council. I have lived in Huntington Beach for ten years and have always supported my local government until now. I know just complaining will not get me anywhere, so I will work towards rallying the citizens that believe their rights have been taken away.
There may not be a short-term answer to fixing this gross injustice, but I think when it comes time to vote in new council members this will be a major rallying cry. As any good politician should know, what was voted in, can be voted out or repealed in the future. I will start with talking to my neighbors, my children’s friends parents, the high-school students getting ready to vote and anyone else in the community who will feel the pain once this ban is in effect.
Please take note that when I shop at my local Vons store I purchase enough items to fill two shopping carts, every two week, which is a lot of money to lose to the neighboring cities. I will also buy clothes for my family and other big ticket items elsewhere!
Again, this is bigger than just the environment, it deals with our basic fundamental right to chose how we shop for our basic needs as human beings.
Regards,
Tracy Portillo
* * *
– Councilman Shaw to Portillo – 4:41 PM
We’ll have to agree to disagree. Very simply put: A plastic bag is not a basic need.
Joe
* * *
– Portillo to Councilman Shaw (final response) – 6:18 PM
Mr. Shaw,
Thank you for your response, but your response to my concerns seems to only highlight how out of touch you are with the real issues here. Just because it seems you can afford to pay the extra money or you have the time to preplan your bag needs, does not mean everyone does. A plastic bag to you may not be a basic need, but to me and I am sure many others, the ability to carry our family’s food purchases (for some without a car), after working 12 hours days, without having to worry about paying additional money or making sure you have brought enough bags, is a real basic need for me.
My other major concern, is that the only other option our local businesses will have is to provide the new bags and pass the cost onto us, the customer. Either way we lose.
I am not judging you, as I don’t know if you are responsible for shopping for your families food and clothing purchases, but I am responsible for those basic needs for my family. This issue is not a political cause for me, it is a reality and it will impact my life more than you seem to understand, which makes me not only disappointed, but mad at my local government leaders.
I guess at this point, since I was unaware that the City Council had voted to enact this band until today, when I saw the notice at Home Depot, we will have to wait and see if the added cost and time that the Huntington Beach residents will incur provides enough unrest that the ban will have to be re-evaluated before the next elections.
Regards,
Tracy
// // //
