Tag: plastic bag ban

First District Publishes Decision Upholding San Francisco’s Expansion of Plastic Bag Restrictions

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On January 3, 2014, the First District Court of Appeal ordered publication of Save the Plastic Bag Coalition v. City and County of San Francisco. We previously wrote about the case here.

The League of California Cities and the California State Association of Counties jointly submitted a request for publication. In support of this request, the groups pointed out that: no other published decision has applied the rules of preemption to single-use plastic bag bans; the opinion suggests that if environmentally beneficial components are an integral aspect of a project from its inception, they may be considered when determining that a categorical exemption from CEQA applies to the project; the opinion clarifies that local agencies can use the Class 7 and Class 8 categorical exemptions and operate in a regulatory capacity; and the opinion provides helpful guidance regarding what qualifies as substantial evidence under the fair argument standard. The court did not state which, if any, of these arguments influenced its decision to publish the opinion.

Supreme Court Upholds Marin County’s Plastic Bag Ban

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On October 2, 2013, the California Supreme Court followed the state’s growing trend of rulings favoring plastic bag bans when it unanimously denied review of the First District Court of Appeal’s decision upholding Marin County’s ordinance.

Since 2012, retail stores in unincorporated Marin County have been banned from offering single-use plastic bags at check-out, and paper bags carry a 5-cent fee. The purpose of the ordinance, according to the County, is to reduce land and water pollution from discarded bags. Nearly 50 other California cities and counties have implemented similar laws.

Plastic bag manufacturers claim that the measure is actually worse for the environment because it leads to greater use of paper bags, which they argue require more energy to produce and also take up more landfill space. However, the First District Court of Appeal found enough evidence to support the County’s assertion that the ordinance will protect the environment and thus did not require a review of possible negative impacts of the ban. Because the ban is limited to unincorporated areas, it only applies to 40 stores. The Court of Appeal opined that any increase in paper bag use at this small scale would have trivial environmental effects.