Reducing Plastic

Amid recycling industry turmoil and mounting evidence of plastic pollution’s environmental impacts, Santa Cruz County is taking additional steps to curb its plastic waste.

Public works officials had worked since February to prepare a slate of potential new waste-curbing measures, gathering input from residents, businesses and other jurisdictions.

Tuesday, Aug 6, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to ban the sale of single-use plastic water bottles from county facilities. And the board directed staff to return in October with an ordinance imposing a fee on single-use cups sold at restaurants and other vendors across the unincorporated county.

“The issue of plastic pollution is real,” said 1st District Supervisor John Leopold on Tuesday. “This board has worked on it before and we will continue to be a leader on this issue.”

After China drastically restricted its import of recyclable plastics from the U.S., even recyclable materials are increasingly ending up in landfills. And as Santa Cruz County considered how to cut down on waste Tuesday, the state’s largest recycling center operator, RePlanet, announced it is shuttering all 284 of its locations.

California cities such as Watsonville and Berkeley approved fees for single-use cups earlier this year, following the model of the 10-cent statewide fee charged for carryout bags.

The rate of Santa Cruz County’s cup fee proposal has yet to be determined. Supervisors instructed staff to work with neighboring jurisdictions in an effort to arrive at a common charge. Watsonville is charging 10 cents per cup, while Berkeley is charging 25 cents.

Additional studying and public outreach is also planned around other problematic plastics, such as contact lenses and the plastic microfibers shed from synthetic fabric.

But supervisors stopped short of pursuing more aggressive options, such as moving forward with bans on the sale of single-use plastic water bottles, helium balloons or filtered cigarettes across the unincorporated county.

Katherine O’Dea, executive director at nonprofit Save Our Shores, said the county’s actions represent “a really good step forward,” if not quite as big of a step as she and other environmentalists had hoped.

“I would have liked to see them go further on the plastic bottles, but maybe we’ll get that on the next round,” she said.

O’Dea and dozens of environmentalists rallied on the steps of the county Governmental Center on Tuesday morning prior to the meeting, where they chanted, waved signs and called on the local government to take decisive action.

Amiel Goodman, 10, carried a sign reading, “Do something drastic, cut the plastic.”

“Plastics that we use ends up in the ocean, and that kills sea life and destroys the environment,” Goodman said.

“The Monterey Bay means a lot to a lot of people, including me,” said Santa Cruz resident Sierra Garcia, 23. “Of course, plastic pollution is a global issue — the small particles are transported to even really remote parts of the Earth — but I think that here at home is a really good place to start.”