An ordinance that would ban single-use plastic bags in unincorporated areas of Santa Barbara County goes before the Board of Supervisors Tuesday.
San Luis Obispo County implemented its county-wide plastic bag ban in 2012, which applies to all cities and unincorporated areas. Rural areas and smaller cities in San Luis Obispo County have their waste managed by one entity.
When the San Luis Obispo County Integrated Waste Management Authority passed the ban, all communities under their jurisdiction had to comply with the ordinance.
As it is now, stores in the county cannot provide plastic bags to their customers, but they can provide paper bags at a $0.10 fee.
Bill Worrell is the manager of the County's Integrated Waste Management Authority and said that before the ordinance, the county was using 120 million bags every year.
“Since the bag ban has gone into affect we’ve seen a significant reduction in bags, probably in the 90 percent range and a corresponding reduction in the pollution on streets and other areas from the bags," said Worrell.
Now Santa Barbara County will consider a similar ban. Carlyle Johnston, Project Leader for the County Department of Public Works, authored the ordinance that would apply only to unincorporated areas, like Los Olivos and Isla Vista.
“The board of supervisors directed staff to reinitiate the single use plastic bag ban [ordinance] after the statewide measure was delayed through the ballot initiative that’s going to be on the November 2016 ballot," said Johnston.
The cities of Santa Barbara and Carpinteria are the only cities in the county with plastic bag bans currently in place.
