Intern Monica Abonce said she began her research on plastic pollution for her college CAPSTONE project in Aug. 2020. She contacted San Benito County’s Integrated Waste Management for discussion and support in local outreach strategy. Her presentation included a look into the impacts of plastic production and plastic pollution on the local environment.
Abonce said more plastic is being produced now than in the entire last century. In an effort to convince the Hollister City Council to adopt an ordinance to reduce the use of single-use plastic products, Abonce, a student intern with Integrated Waste Management (IWM), gave a presentation May 17 about the environmental impacts of single-use plastics on the environment and what it would take to reduce it.
Her overall message was that a future Hollister single-use plastic reduction ordinance would complement the city’s zero waste and climate goals included in the 2040 General Plan. Additionally, the presentation included a review of local plastic ware ordinances, including those in San Juan Bautista, Watsonville, Morgan Hill, Santa Cruz, Seaside and Monterey.She said single-use plastic products may be used for a couple minutes but will remain in the environment forever.
“A more specific problem are microbeads or microplastics,” she said, “which are five millimeters or less in size.”
The problem with microplastics is that, according to the National Ocean Service, they do not readily break down into harmless molecules and can take hundreds or thousands of years to decompose, wreaking havoc on the environment and becoming part of the food chain as fish consume them. Facial scrubs are an example of the type of product that contains these tiny plastics.
A recent graduate of American University, with a BA in Environment Science, Abonce said if plastic production continues at its present pace, by 2050 there will be more plastic in the oceans than fish.
Abonce said if the council were to pass a single-use plastic reduction ordinance it would help cutdown greenhouse emissions, reduce litter throughout the city and ultimately in the ocean, and create a more sustainable lifestyle. She said plastics are taking up space in landfills and the long-term effects are still unknown.
Plastic waste, she told the council, can be reduced through an ordinance similar to those already passed in other cities that ban plastic products and encourage the use of biodegradable straws and food containers. She said, though Watsonville has not enforced its ordinance since the COVID outbreak. “It would be a good idea to join in and do our part,” she said and recommended a three-phase approach:
- Phase One: Plastic carry-out bags would be prohibited. Paper bags must be 40% recyclable. There would be a mandatory 10-cent fee.
- Phase two: Plastic & Styrofoam food ware would need to meet BPI standards as compostable/biodegradable materials. Straws would not be provided unless asked for by customers.
- Phase three: There would be a single-cup fee of 10-cents per cup.
“It should be a phased approach to make it easier on businesses,” she said.
Council member Tim Burns wondered where the fees would end up. Salina Stotler, an analyst and green business coordinator at IWM, said San Juan Bautista charges 25-cents per plastic bag and the businesses can use the money to offset the cost of paper.
Council member Rick Perez said he didn’t see an issue charging 10-cents, though he would like to see a return to individuals bringing in their own reusable bags. Still he wondered if it was wise to charge the fees when so many people were still having financial difficulties because of COVID.
County Supervisor Peter Hernandez commented as a business owner, saying he was disappointed that he did not have an opportunity to weigh in on the effects such an ordinance would have on the business community.
“It’s not as simple as ‘let’s just add this cost,’ because there are issues of supply,” he said. “This is one of the things that has irked me when it comes to government because, ultimately, it’s the consumers who pay for it.”
Hernandez said he was as much for preserving the environment as anyone, but he was also concerned about the process and practicality of the ordinance. He said it requires management when it comes to customers using the right garbage or recycle receptacles.
“I’d have to babysit the consumers and tell staff to tell my customers to put the garbage in the right bin,” he said. “There’s a lot more, technically, to what this means. There’s been very little back-and-forth communication with Waste Management and it just seems you want a solution, but you’re excluding the business community from the solution. I don’t understand how that makes sense. You need their buy-in to get the outcome you want.”
The Californians Against Plastics organization lists cities throughout the state that have plastic bag bans.
“There’s a lot of variables involved,” Hernandez said. “I’m not asking you to scrap it. I’m just asking for you to come up with a practical way, and government should pay for it.”
No action was taken to set a date to bring back an ordinance.
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