Imperial Beach proposes one of the strictest plastic bag bans in California

Imperial Beach doesn’t think the state’s single-use plastic bag ban goes far enough. So it is coming up with a stricter ban.

The City Council is considering a ban on most plastic bags, straws, stirrers and utensils, as well as food service containers that are not biodegradable, compostable, or recyclable. The ban would apply to food establishments, the city, vendors doing business with the city and special events held in Imperial Beach.

Solana Beach was the first city in San Diego County to ban single-use plastic bags back in 2012. Encinitas followed suit in 2015 and Del Mar and San Diego banned single-use plastic bags in 2016.

Most plastic bag bans across the state, including San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sacramento, allows businesses to charge at least 10 cents for a sturdier reusable plastic bag or a paper bag, according to the Retail Compliance Center, an organization that helps retailers comply with environmental regulations.

If enacted, Imperial Beach’s ban would be one of the most restrictive in the state because it would not give businesses the option of using the thicker plastic bags.

Officials in Imperial Beach say businesses skirt the state’s plastic bag ban by simply using thicker bags. The current state law, like many municipal bans, allows businesses to use plastic bags as long as they are thicker than 2.25 mils (one-thousandth of an inch). The thicker bags last longer and can be used multiple times as opposed to the thinner, single-use bags.

That loophole essentially makes the state’s plastic bag ban a false ban, said Imperial Beach Mayor Serge Dedina.

“The reality is we have a fake, statewide plastic bag ban,” Dedina said. “Because essentially, the world’s largest corporations who could afford to switch did.”

Corporations such as Walmart, CVS, or Grocery Outlet get around the ban by simply buying the thicker bags, Dedina said.

The mayor’s comments came during an April 17 City Council meeting in which the council debated expanding an existing Styrofoam ban to include plastic.

During the meeting, the council asked staff to draft an ordinance that would ban all plastic bags. However, City Attorney Jennifer Lyon cautioned that the wording might be too broad and have unintended consequences.

For example, the current draft of the proposed ban exempts some plastic bags such as produce bags at grocery stores and bags used to carry dry-cleaning or laundry.

Lyon told the council she would review the language and bring back the plastic ban proposal at a future City Council meeting.

One council member, Robert Patton, was concerned the ban would hurt small businesses. He noted that Imperial Beach touts itself as a business-friendly city, but too many regulations could jeopardize that.

He pushed back when Councilwoman Paloma Aguirre introduced the idea of banning all plastic bags, no matter how thick they were.

“We have a lot of power up here and we’re like, OK, we’re taking away your plastic bags,” he said. “I mean, what’s next?”

Other members of the council said pollution is such a dire problem, not only in Imperial Beach but around the world, that it demands strong action.

Councilman Mark West referenced news coverage of tiny plastic particles found floating in the air over the Pyrenees of France, a remote mountain range in the south of France.

“It’s in our body, it’s in our food, it’s probably in the air,” Dedina said. “We’re drowning in plastic.”