Shoreline City Council meeting Monday to decide on plastic bags
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Shoreline City Council business meeting Monday, April 29, 7pm in Shoreline City Hall Council Chambers, 17500 Midvale Ave N.
The council will consider whether to ban stores from using plastic bags. Environmentalists have been pushing this issue hard for years, while the cities around us have enacted bans. Pet owners and others who have been reusing the bags say they will now have to buy bags. Some store owners don't want to lose the Seattle customers they gained when Seattle enacted their ban.
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Plastic bags is only part of the story. The proposed ordinance also mandates retailers must collect a pass-through charge from its customers for paper bags, restricts the paper bags allowed, requires paper bag fee accounting on the receipts, and fines retailers $250 for violating any portion of the ordinance. The City deems this complex ordinance will require 8 months for adequate public outreach and implementation, and will not go into effect until January 2013 (i.e., after the November election).
Shoreline Municpal Code (SMC) 9.25.030 Carryout Bag Regulations. (draft)
A. No retail establishment in the City shall provide a plastic carryout bag to any customer.
B. No retail establishment in the City shall provide a paper carryout bag with a manufacturer’s stated capacity of one-eighth barrel (882 cubic inches) or larger that is not a recyclable paper carryout bag, and retail establishments shall collect a pass-through charge of not less than five cents for each recyclable paper carryout bag provided.
C. It shall be a violation of this section for any retail establishment to pay or otherwise reimburse a customer for any portion of the recyclable paper carryout bag pass-through charge; provided that retail establishments may not collect a pass-through charge from anyone with a voucher or electronic benefits card issued under the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) or Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) support programs, or the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, also known as Basic Food), or the Washington State Food Assistance Program (FAP).
D. All retail establishments shall indicate on the customer transaction receipt the number of recyclable paper carryout bags provided to customers and the total amount of the pass-through charge.
9.25.040 Violation - Penalty.
A. It shall be a violation this ordinance for any retail establishment to fail to comply with any section of this ordinance.
B. It shall be a violation of this ordinance for any retail establishment to penalize, discipline, or discriminate against any employee for performing any duty necessary to comply with this ordinance.
C. Violation of any provision of this chapter shall be a civil infraction.
D. Any retail establishment found guilty of committing a civil infraction shall be assessed a monetary penalty of $250.00.
Sorry, I meant to say January 2014.
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