Santa Cruz Co. Bans Single-use Plastic Water Bottles

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, CA — With input from residents, businesses and other jurisdictions, Santa Cruz County has been working for much of 2019 on measures to curb plastic waste. Now, the county Board of Supervisors has unanimously voted to ban the sale of single-use plastic water bottles from county-owned or operated facilities, and the board instructed staff to come back with an ordinance that will impose fees on single-use cups sold at restaurants or other businesses in unincorporated county areas.

The move came Tuesday during the board's regularly scheduled meeting and follows a recent, more far-reaching vote by the City of Watsonville to ban plastics.

The county ban was also on the heels of an announcement this week from RePlanet Buyback Center that it had terminated all employees and closed its 284 recycling sites throughout California, including in Santa Cruz County.

RePlanet officials cited a reduction in state fees, the depressed pricing of recycled aluminum and PET plastic, rising operating costs, minimum wage increases, plus health and workers compensation insurance, as factors for the shutdown, calling the business "no longer sustainable."

RePlanet said it will file for Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors and will liquidate its assets.