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Politics & Government

Laguna Niguel, Dana Point Wrap Up Discussion of Plastic Bags

This year, Orange County became the fifth California county to implement bans on single-use plastic grocery bags, which are known to be hazardous to the environment.

Sara Gold, Neighbor
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Earlier this year, the city of Dana Point passed a law banning plastic grocery bags, making it the 42nd jurisdiction in California to do so. Laguna Beach and Dana Point are the first two cities in Orange County to pass such legislation; Laguna Niguel, however, has no intentions to follow suit.

In Dana Point, the road to banning plastic bags began in 2009, when the City Council created a voluntary reduction program for stores and businesses. In 2011, the City Council voted, 4-1, to create a prohibition on single-use plastic grocery bags, ultimately resulting in the official passage of a measure in March 2012.

Timeline of Dana Point Plastic Bag Legislation:

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December 2011 Due to overwhelming input from the community, City Council elects to devote more time to drafting the measure, postponing discussion of the item to 2012. Februrary 7, 2012 City Council passes an initial measure with a 4-1 vote, contingent on at least two subsequent approvals. The ordinance bans all Dana Point merchants from providing single-use plastic bags at check-out, produce bags exempt, allowing only recycleble paper bags and reusable bags. February 21, 2012 City Council gives the bag ban ordinance its required second approval. An 18-month exemption for small businesses with annual revenue of less than $4 million is added, as well as a broadened definition of “reusable bags.” March 6, 2012 With a 4-1 vote, City Council officially passes the measure, set to take effect April 1, 2013. The 18-month exemption for small businesses is reduced to six months, and an exemption for restaurants is added. The restaurant exemption was in response to the Save the Bag Coalition’s written intent to sue if Dana Point applied the ban to restaurants. The Save the Bag Coalition cited that only the state of California has the authority to regulate restaurants.

Laguna Niguel

Laguna Niguel is not currently considering banning plastic grocery bags.

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“The Laguna Niguel City Council is not, and has never, considered banning single-use grocery bags. This issue has not come up in Laguna Niguel, and therefore, there is no official City Council position on the issue,” said City Manager Tim Casey. 

While there are no plans to eliminate plastic shopping bags, Laguna Niguel provides recycling programs through CR&R, a waste and recycling service that serves more than 2.5 million people within Orange, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Imperial and Riverside counties, according to the company’s website.

CR&R is the franchised refuse collection contractor for Laguna Niguel and Dana Point; for more information about waste collection and recycling procedures in your city, click here for Laguna Niguel, and here for Dana Point.

CR&R provides Laguna Niguel and Dana Point residents with a trash can designated specifically for recyclables in order to enable residents to play their part by recycling. In addition, Casey noted that the city of Laguna Niguel encourages recycling through the city website, city e-newsletter and special events.

Although Laguna Niguel does not have a law regulating plastic bags in grocery stores, many stores in both Laguna Niguel and Dana Point are taking measures to decrease plastic bag use.

in Laguna Niguel provides only paper bags for most products and rewards customers who bring reusable fabric bags by entering their names into a weekly raffle; the winner receives a $15 Trader Joe’s gift card.

, which has two stores in Laguna Niguel and one in Dana Point, has a program where customers who bring reusable bags can accumulate "green points" in order to receive discounted gas at .

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