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Capitola City Council has approved a plastic bag ban.
Capitola City Council, in California, has unanimously approved a ban on plastic bags. It has also chosen to introduce a 25 cent fee on paper bags, in order to cut back on waste while also supporting local businesses. Santa Cruz Sentinel reports that Mayor Stephanie Harlan would have preferred to charge only ten cents, however, she was overruled by the democratic vote, with the higher fee set to be implemented in March. However, the ordinance to ban plastic bags from the city could take a little longer to come into effect, as it cannot begin until three months after an approval at a second reading. Almost all council members reported to be in favour of such a decision, with support from environmental groups such as Save Our Shores, Environment California and the Surfrider Foundation. However, Aptos resident Richard Wieckowicz opposed the ban, claiming that similar ideas have failed in other counties. He quoted research which showed that shoppers were in fact beginning to use their own reusable cotton bags anyway, therefore enforcing such regulation was unnecessary. Mr Wieckowicz went on to suggest that the council extend the ban to restaurants, rather than solely examining the numbers used in shops and grocery stores. This, he claims, could make a far larger dent in the number of plastic bags used in the city. The new sales tax on bags, which was first agreed in November, is projected to generate $270,000 (£166,000) next year, and $1.1 million (£676,000) a year from 2014 to 2017. City manager Jamie Goldstein told the publication that this would help to bolster the city's reserves, which next year will be spent largely on street maintenance and improvements, public works crew and a community service officer. Councillors and residents have asked for a far larger amount of money to be dedicated to street maintenance, however, a mid-year financial report in February will signal whether additional tax revenues will be available to spend on this sector. Here at Shopping Bags Direct we offer a wide range of paper bags which can be tailored to meet your specific requirements. Please contact us today to find out how we can help.
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