Californian bans on plastic bags hit a snag

Local communities in California may find it more difficult to ban plastic bags after a judge granted an injunction against a ban in Oakland because the city failed to conduct an environmental review. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch said there was substantial evidence to support an argument that paper bags are more environmentally damaging than plastic bags in a ruling on 17 April.

The decision was in response to a plastics industry lawsuit that the city did not comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), which requires local governments to document the environmental impacts of their decisions. The coalition argued that paper bags take more energy to produce, create more greenhouse gas emissions, and cause 50 times more water pollution to manufacture than plastic bags.

But a sponsor of the Oakland ordinance said that litter caused by plastic bags is the main reason for the ban and why it improves the environment. Oakland must now decide whether it wants to appeal the decision of the ban or undertake a full environmental review of the ordinance. The ban went into effect Jan. 15, but has not been enforced.

The plastic bag ban in San Francisco is working and most consumers and large retailers are making the switch from plastic to paper or reusable bags, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. A new front on the public backlash against plastic packaging has been bans on polystyrene (PS) take-out food packaging. Source: RISI