Plastic Bags Banned in San Jose, Unincorporated Santa Clara County
Prohibition went into effect Jan. 1.
Starting Jan. 1, retailers in San Jose and unincorporated areas of Santa Clara County were no longer using single-use plastic bags and paper bags without recycled content, as a city and county ordinance to ban the bags took effect.
Under the new policy, passed by the San Jose City Council in December 2010 and by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors in April, only restaurants, nonprofits and social organizations can hand out the bags.
Proponents claim that a ban on plastic bags would lead to a cleaner environment, saving the city money in clean-up efforts.
Single-use bags litter roadsides, clog drainage systems, pollute local creeks and streams and harm wildlife, according to proponents of the ban.
Meanwhile opponents have said that the ordinance will hurt consumers and small businesses because they don't have the same buying power as the bigger stores.
The San Jose ordinance, proposed four years ago by San Jose Councilman Kansen Chu, permits retailers to provide single-use paper bags that contain a minimum of 40 percent recycled content.
They must charge shoppers a fee of 10 cents per bag, which would be increased to 25 cents in two years.
There would be exceptions for retailers that provide plastic or paper bags for items such as fresh produce, meat, or bulk goods.
Businesses in unincorporated areas will be allowed to use thin plastic liner bags for items including fresh produce, meat, frozen foods, prepared foods, bakery items, plants, prescription drugs and newspapers. However, regular plastic bags will not be allowed at checkout.
Retailers in unincorporated areas can sell customers single-use paper bags that are 100 percent recyclable and contain a minimum of 40 percent post-consumer waste at a cost of 15 cents each.
In response to the new ordinance, Pet Food Express announced last week the business will reduce the cost of its reusable bags to 49 cents and donate 100 percent of the money collected in the sale of reusable bags to San Jose Animal Care and Services.
The fundraiser will be in effect at all three Pet Food Express stores in San Jose between Jan. 1 and April 1.
Pet Food Express will also have paper bags available for 10 cents that are at least 40 percent post-consumer recycled.
Michael Levy, founder of Pet Food Express, said the fundraiser would directly go toward helping homeless animals in San Jose.
"We realize the ban is going to be a major adjustment for people shopping in San Jose, and we wanted to find a way to help them in the transition by reducing the price of our reusable bags," Levy said in a statement.
—By Bay City News Service
Peter S. Carter
8:45 am on Monday, January 2, 2012
While San Jose stares down the barrel of an unfunded pension liability of some $3.6 billion, the city council focuses on the really important issues...what kind of shopping bags retailers can use. Get a grip!!!
Peter S. Carter
AR
9:21 am on Monday, January 2, 2012
huh? this move is long overdue, was decided long ago, and has nothing to do with the city's financial issues. but hey, the US govt is in debt too...so maybe we should go back to leaded gas.
M2BUZY
10:03 am on Tuesday, January 3, 2012
This is a just another law to control people's lives. Wouldn't it be better to enhance recycling efforts for these bags than give people an extra burden?
Jeanne Rajabzadeh
10:42 am on Tuesday, January 3, 2012
It will be interesting to see if we have less roadside trash after several months. For me, it will be a challenge to remember to put the bags back in the car after I bring them in the house. I do end up (many times) buying more items than I have on my list, say at Target. Will I have brought in enough bags? Many times I intent to run in and buy some milk, but come out with several bags. I will miss the bags, as I use them many times before putting them in the recycle bin.
What happened to the bags made of cornstarch? Too costly to produce?
Kate Russell
3:00 pm on Tuesday, January 3, 2012
There is no way those bags cost 10 cents, so someone is cashing in on our government's efforts at controlling personal decisions. For myself, I will probably recycle far less, especially once I run out of plastic bags. Who voted for this waste of legislation, anyway? I find it extremely offensive that the government is stepping into private transactions between individuals, especially when they cannot enforce worthy laws, such as those against running stop signs and red lights, even now.
AR
10:50 am on Wednesday, January 4, 2012
your beliefs stem from the fact that you have no idea how these bags are made. plastic is a petroleum product. creating these bags releases co2 through both the manufacturing process and the sourcing of petrochemicals. this process also consumes a fantastic quantity of fresh water, probably a third of the fresh water consumed in this country is used in these types of processes. then those bags must be transported by trucks which release more co2. then they are used once and maybe recycled, but most likely landfilled.
so you are right, by any stretch of the imagination, these bags have a lifetime cost far greater than ten cents.
Kate Russell
12:43 pm on Wednesday, January 4, 2012
@AR - No, I am not ignorant of the process or the facts, I simply see that plastic bags are trivial when compared to the serious issues facing our nation and our world. I also see it as yet another way government and big business are trying to dictate personal choices.
AR
1:07 pm on Wednesday, January 4, 2012
well san jose city government is not tasked with solving the nation's problems or the world's problems, so i still don't understand your gripe. the constitution makes no mention of your inalienable right to disposable bags.
Susan
3:05 pm on Wednesday, January 4, 2012
The Majestic Plastic Bag - A Mockumentary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLgh9h2ePYw
Steve
3:26 pm on Wednesday, January 4, 2012
I hope more people will come to Los Gatos to shop knowing that they won't be ripped off paying for bags. This will help our businesses. There is no reason to charge ten cents for paper bags whether one prefers paper or plastic is not the issue. I saw a guy in Sears carrying his items in his arms. He looked like he was shoplifting when he wasn't. Now stores are going to have all kinds of logistical issues because of this policy.
Kate Russell
4:21 pm on Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Thanks for the head's up, Steve. I'll be more than happy to bring my shopping dollars to Los Gatos!
AR
9:02 pm on Wednesday, January 4, 2012
how many people are going to spend $4 in gas to drive to a town where groceries cost 30% more to save 30 cents on bags??
people will just keep reusable bags in their cars. i've been doing this for years and so has my wife, and so has every other college-educated adult i know.
ever been to costco? its jam-packed every hour it is open, and not a plastic bag to be seen. how do they do it?
BayAreaAg03
4:52 pm on Thursday, January 5, 2012
Call me crazy, but I will be driving the extra 6 miles just to do my grocery shopping, etc. in Los Gatos.
Kate Russell
9:13 pm on Wednesday, January 4, 2012
AR - You are missing my point entirely. I have been recycling for over 45 years. I work from home (so do not commute at all) and I do all my traveling, shopping, and visiting by motorcycle. I am a Costco member and I boycott countries and companies that I disagree with (such as China). My lifestyle is probably far more environmentally friendly than yours. What I am opposed to is government stepping in and demanding compliance, rather than respecting personal choices.
AR
2:09 pm on Thursday, January 5, 2012
your "personal choice" has conclusively well-known environmental impacts that far outweigh the value to you as an individual consumer. this well-understood fact is why these rulings are being made, along with thousands of other obvious limits on personal choice. you label yourself as being environmentally conscious, yet you defend the most egregiously wasteful and pointless aspect of our throwaway culture - the plastic bag. i just don't understand your aversion to reusable bags. they perform the same function (carrying materials) in a superior manner since they can bear more weight...you lose absolutely nothing by yielding to this trivial societal restriction
Kate Russell
5:47 pm on Thursday, January 5, 2012
AR - Maybe you should actually try reading the emails that you are responding to before ranting and criticizing in ignorance. Just because I defend a business' right to choose whether or not to offer free plastic bags has nothing to do with how I shop. I have used cloth shopping bags for over 20 years - they work much better on a motorcycle. I don't need a law to tell me to behave responsibly and I am opposed to any law that interferes with personal liberty.
AR
9:28 am on Friday, January 6, 2012
i have been reading your responses, you should try reciprocating. we have decided that consumers do not have the "choice" to permanently degrade the environment they share with others. you also don't have the choice to test fire shotguns in city parks. you also don't have the choice the process chemical waste next to primary schools. our society is absolutely riddled with limitations on choice, where the deleterious outcomes to others for those choices obviously outweigh the benefits to the chooser.
Kate Russell
5:49 pm on Thursday, January 5, 2012
P.S Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
-Benjamin Franklin (Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759)
AR
9:32 am on Friday, January 6, 2012
it must pain you to live in our fascist society. might i recommend the sudan? no government at all. a true libertarian paradise. why toil away in our orwellian hellhole when you can join the rest of the john galts in this new empire of liberty? flights leaving daily
Kate Russell
9:47 am on Friday, January 6, 2012
On the contrary, I take my civic duty to protect personal liberty, yours and mine, very seriously. You don't see people running away from Capitalist countries to live in Socialist countries.
- Evelyn Beatrice Hall, "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
AR
10:13 am on Friday, January 6, 2012
huh? it is YOU who has been arguing that our desire to limit choice is eroding the economic freedom of the nation...and now you're arguing that our capitalist fervor is a beacon for immigrants? which is it? the US essentially practices as much redistribution of wealth as any of the other industrialized nations...yet the immigrants keep pouring in from low/no tax nations. go figure
Kate Russell
10:47 am on Friday, January 6, 2012
AR - I'm not sure where the immigration issue came in. I was merely responding to your suggestion that I move to the Sudan. Perhaps thou art merely a troll...?
Susan
8:48 pm on Friday, January 6, 2012
Hi, Kate. I sincerely apologize if I'm mistaken, but your talking points are coming across like a paid shill for the plastic bag lobby. Anyway, let's put all the finger pointing, threats of socialism, and founding father quotes aside – just for a moment – and put the issue in the middle.
What are your thoughts on the pollution these bags are causing? Given the fact that not everyone is as responsible as you are with regards to recycling, how would you solve the problem? Thanks!
Kate Russell
9:46 pm on Friday, January 6, 2012
Paid shill?!!? Let's see, I point out that far more important laws are not being enforced and I express my personal view, saying that I find government controls offensive, hardly grounds for your insult. Pollution is a real problem, but the only real solution lies in eliminating the subsidies and bail-outs paid to corporations and nations. If the price of every product or service reflected its true cost to the environment, plastic bags included, people wouldn't be nearly so wasteful. I find this legislation to be trivial in its blatant disregard for the real problems.
Susan
10:29 pm on Friday, January 6, 2012
"If the price of every product or service reflected its true cost to the environment, plastic bags included, people wouldn't be nearly so wasteful."
I'm not sure I follow you, Kate. Are you suggesting we should pay more for the plastic bags? If so, I do agree people wouldn't be so wasteful, and the end result would be more people using reusable bags. But how much should that plastic bag cost? I don't know, 5, 10 dollars?
Anyway, as far as it being trivial legislation, given the significant impact of plastic trash on our environment weighed against the minor behavioral changes we'd be required to make, I wholeheartedly disagree. Hopefully Cupertino, and surrounding cities, will follow San Jose's lead.
AR
10:56 pm on Friday, January 6, 2012
you keep conflating national (and now international?) policy with municipal restrictions.
as to your latter point...the entire purpose of this rule and the resulting surcharge is to make the purchaser aware of the greater cost to the environment for using these bags. should the surcharge be higher? maybe. but its a start.
Kate Russell
10:20 am on Saturday, January 7, 2012
AR - You were the one who brought the international aspect in when you suggested I move to the Sudan. The point of this comment section is for people to express their views, not to waste time or life bickering. I do not believe government should dictate personal choice in any matter. That's my view. Done.
Steve
1:33 pm on Saturday, January 7, 2012
unless we're all going to run through the desert wearing an animal skin while chasing our food with a homemade spear and living in a mud hut..none of us is saving the world anytime soon by choosing paper over plastic...i just filled up my 638 horsepower car with 100 octane race fuel..i'm ready to go burn some rubber..
AR
9:42 pm on Saturday, January 7, 2012
you're essentially correct. american suburban society is the most wasteful living arrangement ever conceived. short of installing a true dictatorship that simply relocates citizens to sustainable housing and imposes sustainable habits, we're going to have correct this mistake one step at a time. eliminating the gross stupidity of one-use plastic bags is an easy start. government can act to coerce when the public fails to make aggregate decisions on an acceptable timeline. in this case san jose was right to act. other cities will follow. in ten years it will be as controversial as recycling is today (meaning, not at all)
Frank Geefay
6:10 pm on Saturday, January 7, 2012
Government has been regulating citizens and business for many decades. There are regulatory rules as to how much industry and individuals can pollute or endanger life. Citizens have smog devices on their cars to regulate pollution. We have spare the air days where citizens are not allowed to use their fire places. Smoking is prohibited by communities almost everywhere. There are driving laws. The list goes on.
Government often has to step in to limit the abuse we all have a tendency to do as affluent Americans. The use of convenient packaging with plastics, Styrofoam, and other petrochemical packages burdens our environment in their manufacture, distribution, recycling and disposal. Tons of plastic bags and packaging are used every hour throughout this country making us more reliant upon oil. Perhaps limiting its use poses an inconvenience but just a couple of decades ago there were no plastic bags. Yes, shopping without plastic bags is an inconvenience, but we can learn to do thing that are more sustainable to our over-polluted environment and over dependence upon oil.
Of course we can do away with all government regulations and do what is convenient and expedient, but in a nation which uses more resources than any other is this best for our health and the well being of the public and environment?
Has anyone visited China lately? You can look at the sun without harming your sight so thick is the smog.
Judyllo
5:22 am on Thursday, January 12, 2012
This ordinance is ridiculous, why should spend your money in a store that do not supply you with means to carry them from store, what would cost them to give to a paper bag. If you spend $150 in a store and it takes 5 bags for your items it will only cost the store .50 for your bags. What are they using the .10 for is it just for their pockets. And when I go to Costco I know I will get a box for my purchases. Our politicians and these so called do gooders should think about homeless people and abused children instead of bags people get a real life.
Susan
7:31 am on Thursday, January 12, 2012
Howzabout we present the facts, arguments, and potential solutions to 5-year old children, and let them weigh in on the best way forward? After all, it's children who will inherit what we create, or, as in the case of single-use grocery bags, destroy... I sound so durn do-goodery-ish, I can hardly stand myself.
The Majestic Plastic Bag - A Mockumentary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLgh9h2ePYw
AR
10:10 am on Thursday, January 12, 2012
because five-year-old children will choose the plastic bags if you put a picture of spongebob on them
Susan
10:46 am on Thursday, January 12, 2012
Oh, for heavens sakes no! Didn't you know SpongeBob is *whispers* gay? Let's use Tinky Winki instead.
Frank Geefay
11:17 am on Thursday, January 12, 2012
Five years from now no one will notice the absence of plastic bag where it is ban or the cost of paper when our 5 year olds are 10. We learn to adapt.