While not considering an outright ban on the use of plastic bags
in local stores, city and county officials are researching how
other jurisdictions are working to reduce the use of the bags while
encouraging more environmentally-friendly options.
While not considering an outright ban on the use of plastic bags in local stores, city and county officials are researching how other jurisdictions are working to reduce the use of the bags while encouraging more environmentally-friendly options.
“We’re not looking at a punitive-type thing,” said Hollister City Councilman Doug Emerson, who briefly addressed the issue at a recent council meeting. “As far as I’m concerned, I want to discourage the use of plastic bags,” not ban their use altogether. “You’ve got the little stores that are selling small goods [and using plastic bags]. I’d hate to be punitive to them.”
City Manager Clint Quilter said he is in the process of “gathering information from other jurisdictions,” though he doesn’t expect to have a report ready for the council before December. “The thought is, ‘Everybody else is doing it, so what can we do?'”
Jim Gibson, an owner of Hollister Super and Baler Market in Hollister and Windmill Market in San Juan Bautista, said plastic bags are used by retailers and grocers because they are relatively inexpensive. He recalls getting into the business 30 years ago when only paper bags were used.
“There are two sides to the issue, since paper does break down and plastic bags blow around in the breeze” when they are discarded, he said. He noted, however, that the production of paper bags carries its own environmental concerns. “We get a lot of customers, not a huge percentage – up to 5 percent – who bring canvas bags for their groceries when they shop. I don’t want to retard the effort [to find environmentally-conscious options for bagging groceries] as long as the playing field is even.”
At Gibson’s stores, he said, clerks don’t ask “paper or plastic?” when bagging groceries. Instead, they use plastic bags unless a customer specifically asks for paper.
“It’s much quicker and more convenient,” he said, adding that paper bags in all sizes are available “and we have participated in canvas bag giveaways in all of our stores.”
See the full story in the Pinnacle on Friday.
