Environmental Consulting Blog

Rincon Evaluates Environmental Impacts of Plastic Bag Bans

The City of Santa Monica, with Rincon Consultants’ assistance, recently passed a citywide ordinance that will:

1. Prohibit retail establishments in Santa Monica from providing "single-use plastic carryout bags” to customers at the point of sale;
2. Prohibit the free distribution of paper carryout bags by grocery stores, convenience stores, mini-marts, liquor stores and pharmacies; and
3. Require stores that make paper carryout bags available to sell recycled paper carryout bags to customers for not less than ten cents per bag.

The intent of the ordinance is to reduce the environmental impacts related to single-use plastic and paper carryout bags, and to promote a shift toward the use of reusable bags.

Rincon assisted the City in preparing an EIR that considered the overall effects of the proposed program at a conceptual level. The analysis also considered the lifecycles of different types of bags (plastic, paper and reusable bags) and the associated environmental effects. Issues analyzed in the EIR included air quality, biological resources, greenhouse gas emissions, hydrology and water quality, and transportation/traffic. The Final EIR determined that the Single-use Carryout Bag Ordinance would not result in any significant environmental impacts and would result in beneficial effects related to air quality, biological resources, and water quality (from litter).

Being one of only a handful of firms that has prepared a CEQA document that analyzes impacts related to banning plastic bags, Rincon has been contacted by a number of public agencies considering implementing an ordinance similar to the one passed in Santa Monica. Rincon recently began work on CEQA documentation for a similar ordinance being considered by the City of Long Beach. The document will be an addendum to the Final EIR prepared by the County of Los Angeles for its carryout bag ordinance and will analyze impacts related to air quality, biological resources, greenhouse gas emissions, hydrology and water quality and utilities and service systems.

For additional information, visit the City of Santa Monica Office of Sustainability and the Environment website: www.smgov.net