Challenge filed against city of Oakland's proposed plastic bag ban
The Oakland City Council approved an ordinance last month to ban plastic bags from retail stores throughout Oakland. With no other recourse, several plastic bag manufacturers have been required to file an environmental challenge of the city of Oakland's proposed plastic bag ban.
Under California state law, an environmental study should be performed before taking such a drastic action - the city of Oakland did not. The city of Oakland assumes that a ban on plastic bags will help the environment and demonstrate that the government is environmentally responsible. When the city does conduct an environmental impact report, the facts will refute their flawed reasoning.
The city has yet to address serious questions about the unintended environmental impacts of this measure which include:
--An increased use of other types of bags, especially paper bags- Plastic bags use 40% less energy to produce and generate 80% less solid waste than paper. Even 100% recycled fiber paper bags use more fossil fuels than plastic bags.
- Paper bag use increases greenhouse gas emissions, in fact more than 60% of paper grocery bags end up in landfills, decomposing and releasing methane gas.
- An increased use of paper bags will also have an adverse environmental impact on water resources as the manufacturing of paper bags generates 50 times more water pollutants than the manufacturing of plastic bags.
--Negative impacts on the recycling stream
- Compostable bags and ordinary plastic bags are nearly indistinguishable, yet they have two very different and incompatible systems. Compostable bags must be sent to an industrial composting facility, not backyard piles or municipal composting centers. Oakland's Ordinance hinders the objectives of statewide plastic bag recycling programs by potentially confusing the public about the recyclable nature of compostable bags. In fact, when the public attempts to recycle compostable bags it will contaminate the plastics recycling process, resulting in a significant amount of unusable recycled plastic that will ultimately be discarded, adding to landfills and defeating the benefit of recycling.
We all need to do our part to protect the environment and we believe:
- We live in a society governed by laws and cities are not above following the rules and obeying the law. Oakland should have conducted an environmental assessment before passing this ban, as we believe is required under state law.
- The law requires environmental impact studies be done before a city can make laws that would potentially impact the environment. Oakland did not do so.
- Bans are not the solution to any problem and should not be the first step to addressing the problems Oakland identified, especially when they don't have proof that the alternative solves anything environmentally. Oakland refused to even review the facts.
- The state has decided on the approach to the environment, AB 2449, which mandates recycling of plastic bags at grocery and drug stores. Cities cannot trump state laws. Oakland has not even given this new state law a chance to take effect and we believe acted in direct opposition to the state law.
- The city has ignored evidence countering their claims about benefits to this new mandatory statewide recycling law and was pre-disposed to making a political decision instead of a correct decision.
This is a decision that will affect countless consumers – consumers who rely on their elected officials to make smart, informed and practical laws. The Oakland City Council should not let unchallenged, unverified claims lead to poor public policy. Consumers deserve to know the potential impacts of this decision and how it will affect them directly, including the hidden costs of a ban – both economic and environmental.
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