SAN FRANCISCO —Retail shoppers will have to adjust to life without plastic as a Superior Court judge on Tuesday, September 11 upheld an ordinance that bans plastic bags from most retail stores beginning October 1.
Multiple sources indicate Judge Teri Jackson also opted to uphold the part of the ordinance that will charge customers 10 cents for each paper bag to carry their purchased items. The ruling settles a lawsuit that was filed by the Save The Plastic Bag Coalition that had argued the city didn’t conduct a thorough report on the impact of the ordinance before being approved by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and signed by Mayor Ed Lee earlier this year.
The group has argued paper bags are actually more harmful to the environment than plastic ones and has sued other cities and counties across California. These areas include Marin County, San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz, Long Beach, Palo Alto and Oakland.
Although a suit filed last year against the City of Manhattan Beach was unsuccessful in blocking the city’s implementation of a ban, the state Supreme Court seemed to indicate that if larger municipalities such as San Francisco were going to pass plastic bag prohibitions, environmental reports would likely be necessary.
In a statement, San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera praised Jackson’s ruling.
“I applaud Judge Jackson for her careful consideration of the issues, and for rejecting arguments by plastic bag manufacturers that clearly misapplied state law,” Herrera said. “San Franciscans deserve the same benefit other jurisdictions enjoy from an effective policy that has been shown to reduce the proliferation of single-use bags use by as much as 95 percent.”
The new ordinance expands upon a first of its kind 2007 law that banned non-compostable plastic bags at large supermarkets and pharmacies. While the ban will effect all retail stores on October 1, restaurants will be exempt until next summer.
A fee for paper bags will be imposed in order to encourage customers to bring their own reusable bags each time they go shopping. Money made from the fee won’t go to the city but instead to the individual stores. Those stores not enforcing the ordinance will be fined up to $500 for each violation.
By Damian Kelly
