Got A Handle on Sonoma County's New Bag Laws?

Announcement from Sonoma County Waste Management:

If you haven’t made the switch to reusable shopping bags, now’s your last chance.

Starting next Monday, on Sept. 1st -- shoppers will be charged 10 cents per paper bag at grocery and retail stores throughout Sonoma County.

Sonoma County Waste Management Agency passed Ordinance No. 2014-2 on February 19, 2014. The ordinance is intended to reduce litter, keep plastic bags out of local waterways, and encourage the use of reusable bags. Just in Sonoma County, it is estimated that 232 million plastic bags and 46 million paper bags are used each year.

Grocery stores and retail shopping establishments together with Sonoma County Waste Management Agency have been working diligently in the last 6 months to prepare for the new ordinance.

To help residents get into the “bag habit” of using reusable bags, the Agency purchased 20,000 reusable shopping bags. This combination of locally-made bags sewn from salvaged materials and recycled plastic bags are being distributed mainly to clients of Sonoma County Human Services Department programs and at Agency events.

The success of this ordinance’s goal to reduce litter relies on the changing habits of shoppers. “Based on the results of similar bag ban ordinances implemented in other communities, Sonoma County should see a dramatic decrease in plastic carryout bag litter in our streets and waterways,” said Henry Mikus, Executive Director of the Sonoma County Waste Management Agency.

Retail establishments will be required to maintain accurate records of the number of recycled-content paper bags purchased and sold for a minimum of three years. Violation of the carryout bag waste reduction ordinance would be an infraction, subject to fine, as defined by the administrative penalties ordinance.

Visit www.recyclenow.org/business/carryoutbags.asp to get the facts about the ordinance, to find suppliers of ordinance-compliant checkout bags and to download bilingual customer education materials.

About the Sonoma County Waste Management Agency: The Agency, formed in 1992, is the joint powers authority of Cotati, Cloverdale, Healdsburg, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Santa Rosa, Sebastopol, Sonoma, Windsor and the unincorporated County.

Its mission is diversion (as required by state law AB939) of household hazardous waste, composting and wood waste, as well as customer education and planning. Funding for its programs is derived from a surcharge on garbage delivered to county refuse disposal sites.

Visit the Agency’s website www.recyclenow.org

Graphic credit: City of Walnut Creek.