Watsonville Bans Single-Use Plastic Bags

Watsonville is going green, and in a hurry.

In three months, single-use plastic bags will no longer be used in the city. The Watsonville city council on Tuesday approved a new ordinance prohibiting retailers from giving or selling single-use plastic bags for carryout of purchases.

, applauded by many, goes into effect at the end of July.

“I’m already using the solid bags instead of getting the plastic bags,” said Bob Culbertson, who is on the steering committee of the Monterey Bay Birding Festival and was supportive of the plastic bag ban.

The city council approved the ban with a 5-1 vote. Council Member Nancy Bilicich dissented and Daniel Dodge was absent.

“I think that plastic bags should be gone,” Bilicich said, though she expressed concern that it will be difficult for the senior community—her constituency in Bay Village—to make the change.

but Watsonville is the first city in the county to eliminate plastic bags at stores. Santa Cruz, Capitola and Scotts Valley are still considering the prohibition.

“Since the county ordinance went into effect, some of the stores in Watsonville are already making this change,” said Nancy Lockwood, Environmental Projects Manager for the city.

The city will notify all businesses through mail, offer a placard for posting at check stands and try to connect stores—especially small mom-and-pop shops—with cost-effective means of getting paper bags. Stores will add a 10-cent charge for paper bags in the first year; it will be 25 cents after that.

“It’s a great idea. It’s a long time coming,” Council Member Emilio Martinez said, though he added it will be a difficult transition and he doesn’t like the charge for paper bags.

Laura Kasa, executive director of Save Our Shores, said in the month since the county’s plastic bag ban began, Safeway has seen a monumental increase in the number of customers who bring their own bags. Eighty percent of customers were bringing bags after four weeks, up from 10 percent when the plastic bag prohibition began. About 18 percent of customers were paying for paper bags, she said. 

“I know we can make this happen,” Kasa said, who noted that volunteers picked up 95 plastic bags during three Earth Day cleanups last weekend.

Plastic bags will still be allowed for items that would be wet, like ice cream or produce, and for restaurant take-out. Also, food stamp recipients would get free paper bags.

Motivating factors for municipalities to ban plastic bags include: added litter, they don’t decompose, the bags clog waterways and harm birds and other wildlife. Also plastic bags are made oil, a non-renewable resource.

Paper bags will still be allowed—for a price—because they are biodegradable and don’t have the same amount of impact on the environment

The city will hand out reusable bags as businesses eliminate plastic bags from their check stands.

“I think it’s just going to be a matter of us getting more and more used to, conditioned,” said Council Member Oscar Rios.