SNOHOMISH — Snohomish became jurisdiction No. 28 in the state to ban plastic bags after a 6-1 vote by the City Council on Feb. 19.
The bag ban takes effect Jan. 1. Shoppers can expect to pay 10 cents a pop for paper bags or bring their own reusable bags to stores to avoid the fee.
Food banks will be exempt from the bag ban, and people using food stamps will be exempt from the 10-cent fee.
The city is encouraging customers to bring their own bags, said economic development manager Wendy Poischbeg.
The universal 10-cent fee for paper bags helps level the playing field for small and large retailers, so mom and pop shops aren’t disproportionately hurt by buying the more expensive paper bags. Retailers keep the fee to offset the bag supply costs.
The city is planning a soft launch of an educational campaign in October, to encourage retailers to begin using paper bags and customers to bring their own, before the busy holiday season and to coincide with the grand reopening of the refurbished Fred Meyer.
Councilman Larry Countryman and Mayor John Kartak, who was not part of the vote, opposed the measure.
Kartak came with a printout of a lengthy European study on plastic bags that he contended showed they were much less environmentally harmful than several other types of bags, including paper. Countryman said he had also relied on the same study Kartak did and would not support the ban. Some council members countered with different findings from other research.
Multiple council members suggested eliminating the flimsy T-shirt style bags should just be the city’s first step in eliminating single-use plastics. Several other jurisdictions have already
banned popular plastic service ware including utensils and straws.
”I’m really proud of this city,” said Councilwoman Karen Guzak, calling the action “progressive and enlightened.”
Guzak noted the T-shirt style bags being banned were not only a concern environmentally but caused problems when they became caught in waste processing machinery.
Republic Services spokesman Russell Joe explained post-meeting that “we have had to slow down the speed of our sorting line at our Material Recycling Facility” and “stop our line when plastic bags gum up or jam our equipment. Both actions have resulted in higher operating costs” and “a lower rate of output of marketable materials to be sent out for sale.”
Council President Jason Sanders said the ban was a first step to get plastics out of the waste stream and echoed the words of a pro-ban resident, saying the ban was about “changing behaviors” for the better.
During public comments that night before the vote, six speakers supported the ban while two opposed. Sanders added for the record that two more community members wrote him in support of the ban.
Once the ban goes into effect, enforcement will be complaint-based. If someone complains to the city that a business is still using plastic bags, the city will send the business a letter, Poischbeg said.
Additional violations could incur a $250 fine each, though city staff have repeatedly said that the city will focus efforts on education and collaboration to help business owners make the shift, rather than policing.
The city ordinance also mandates retailers use paper bags with at least 40 percent post-consumer recycled content, a common condition of the ordinances throughout the state.
While the ban has passed, Sanders has indicated he will propose a future amendment to restrict language in the law that says the mayor may make exceptions to the ban. Sanders proposed during the Feb. 19 session that he would move to limit that exemption to its intended purpose of letting retailers exhaust their supply of plastic bags.
