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06.17.15

City Of San Diego Bag Ban Update

 

RAP BOTTLE AND BAG

With the CA state plastic bag ban on hold until at least November 2016, the City of San Diego continues to move forward in the process to pass a plastic bag ban of their own. San Diego is poised to join another 137 communities in California, including Solana Beach and Encinitas, that have already enacted a plastic bag ban to address the plastic pollution that is plaguing our oceans and beaches. 

On Wednesday, May 13th, San Diego released a Notice of Preparation for an Environmental Impact Report (EIR). A public scoping meeting was held on Wednesday, June 3. This meeting provided an opportuntiy for members of the public to give verbal and written comments.

Surfrider representatives attended the meeting, then sent a support letter to the City of San Diego with specific requests for the scope of the EIR. We advocate for all retail stores to be subject to the ordinance, so we requested a full analysis of the Project Alternative "Apply The Carry Out Bag Reduction Ordinance To All Vendors." Additionally, we requested that monitoring and reporting be mandatory, in order to evidence the efficacy of the ordinance. You can view that letter here.

We will continue to work with the Mayor's office, City Council President Sherri Lightner, and the rest of the City Council to ensure this ordinance gets to Council for a vote as soon as possible. We are hopeful and expecting that the vote will occur in the fall of this year. In the meantime, please call the Mayor's office and your City Council Representative to let them know that you want to see this bag ban passed!

Please contact us at rap@surfridersd.org with any questions.