Santa Barbara County Supervisors adopted an ordinance Tuesday that will ban single-use plastic bags in unincorporated county areas.
The supervisors voted 3-2, with Supervisors Steve Lavagnino and Peter Adam dissenting, to adopt the ordinance which had been approved with the same vote in July.
The law will take effect in 2016, requiring shoppers to bring their own bags or pay 10 cents each for paper bags in retail stores selling food items, such as grocery stores and pharmacies.
Larger stores of 10,000 square feet or more will be subject to the ban on March 22, 2016 and smaller retailers will have to implement the ban starting Sept. 24, 2016.
Lavagnino said that he spent some time in Hawaii over the recent break from Board of Supervisors meetings and noticed that there are no plastic bags on the island, but stores do offer recycled, free paper bags.
With the county’s ban, “it forces you to pay for a paper bag which I think should be provided for free,” he said.
The item was ultimately approved, however.
Before considering the ordinance, the Board of Supervisors certified an environmental impact report that showed positive impacts for air quality, biological resources and water resources with the ban, the county said.
Dozens of municipalities across the state have also adopted their own ordinances.
Carpinteria was the first city in the county to adopt such a ban, with the City of Santa Barbara following suit last year.
The City of Goleta has delayed taking a vote on the issue until a statewide ballot measure can be voted on in November 2016.
— Noozhawk staff writer Lara Cooper can be reached at lcooper@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
