City Council: Plastic Bag Ban and Wireless Emissions Ordinance on Tuesday's Council Agenda

On tonight's City Council agenda are two issues that consider ways for the city to improve environmental health through reducing unnecessary waste, and protecting residents from highly concentrated radio frequency emissions from wireless facilities.

The plastic bag ban would adopt an addendum to the Los Angeles County Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) dated November 16, 2010. It will amend Long Beach Municipal Code by adding a regulation on plastic and paper bags distributed by grocery and retail stores in order to encourage the use of reusable shopping bags, which are less wasteful and more environmentally friendly.

If passed, the distribution of plastic carry-out bags will be prohibited and a ten-cent charge will be placed on each carry-out recyclable paper bag. Most retail stores, grocery stores, convenience stores, pharmacies and farmer's markets will be affected, with large grocery stores and pharmacies set to comply by August 1, 2011. Biodegradable and compostable bags will be considered recyclable rather than reusable.

Plastics of all types threaten the environment when they are not properly disposed of. Recycling is considered good practice but many conservationists are fighting to reduce use of plastics altogether because plastic doesn't decompose or not for years and it ends up in landfills and oceans. (The Pacific Trash Vortex is a massive flotilla of plastic trash and debris in the Pacific Ocean). 

The second issue focuses on protecting citizens from undue harm from radio frequency (RF) emissions concentrated in wireless facilities. After the April 20, 2010 moratorium that temporarily halted the approval of permits for wireless telecommunications facilities, the Department of Development Services staff conducted studies of other cities' wireless ordinances, held several community meetings and two study sessions, and reached out to local residents and the wireless industry to decide the most appropriate path.

This ordinance would encourage placement of wireless facilities away from residential areas, require wireless facilities to share building space instead of constructing a new site any time a co-location opportunity is feasible, require each site to comply with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules on RF emissions, institute a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) and a five-year phase out plan, as well as other design and application standards. Many of these recommendations are in response to concerns from the community and gathered from the best of other cities' plans.

The Planning Commission already approved the amendment on April 7, 2011 and City Council was given 60 days from that time to review the ordinance. There seems to be no negative fiscal implications of the ordinance.