Capitola Plastic Bag Ban Sees Major Support

Plastic bags are already a thing of the past in Watsonville and in unincorporated Santa Cruz County. Capitola is looking to follow the trend, with a preliminary discussion of a ban at Thursday's meeting of the Capitola City Council.

According to city documents, "the proposed ordinance would ban the use of single-use carryout bags at retail businesses, require all paper carryout bags have a charge to be determined by the city council and encourage the use of reusable carryout bags in the city of Capitola, thereby reducing the number of bags manufactured, and the number that are released into the environment and disposed of in landfills."

The ban would not apply to restaurants, or to plastic bags protecting bulk foods in grocery stores, like those in the produce department.

The city report shows the ban would create no fiscal impact on Capitola.

The Central Coast Sanctuary Alliance presented the city council with a list of 100 businesses and groups in support of the ban. The list includes local staples like New Leaf Community Markets, Betty Burger, Cafe Cruz, Charlie Hong Kong and The Farm.

The agenda packet for Thursday's meeting shows that seven groups have written to the council in support of the ban, while one citizen wrote in opposition.

Earlier this year, former councilmember Kirby Nicol spoke out against plastic bag bans, calling environmentalists "the green jihad." 

Do you think Capitola should ban plastic bags? Tell us in the comments!