SALINAS — Plastic sporks and other single-use, disposable plastic products and packaging may soon be a relic of the past in unincorporated Monterey County.
That’s because the Board of Supervisors agreed during its Tuesday morning session to move forward with a proposed ordinance effectively banning single-use plastics from eating utensils and to-go containers to packaging materials.
Led by Supervisor Mary Adams, the county board unanimously directed Environmental Health Bureau staff to continue public outreach to community stakeholders, including business organizations and environmental advocacy groups and return with a draft ordinance for the board’s review in March.
Adams, who proposed restricting single-use plastics in a formal referral issued last fall, said it was time to move beyond the practice while noting the environmental damage, particularly to the ocean, caused by plastic pollution. She said she agreed with staff that the change, especially if properly implemented, won’t generally be opposed by the food service industry and will be welcomed by customers seeking to help the environment.
“I don’t think this will be controversial,” she said.
In an apparent indication of that premise, no one spoke against the proposed regulations during Tuesday morning’s hearing, and only representatives from the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Surfrider, Save the Whales, and Sustainable Monterey County groups spoke in support.
Monterey Bay Aquarium spokeswoman Barbara Meister said the environmental damage from plastics pollution are clear, noting that bits of the material had been found as deep as 1,000 feet in the ocean waters and in the bellies of various sea creatures. She argued in favor of the effort to “turn off the tap” of single-use plastics.
The county, which hosts 468 permitted food operations in unincorporated areas, is envisioning an ordinance similar to those already in force in the cities of Monterey, Pacific Grove, Carmel and Salinas, and legislative proposals under consideration by the State Legislature.
The local cities with such ordinances generally require dine-in facilities to use only non-disposable food service ware, and provide compostable and recyclable take-out materials.
State legislation being considered includes Senate Bill 54 and Assembly Bill 1080, which would require the use of single-use plastic products and packaging in the state to be reduced by 75 percent by 2030.
Also Tuesday, a hearing set for the board’s afternoon session on an appeal filed by neighbor Cynthia Pura on the Paraiso Springs resort project was cancelled after Pura reached an agreement with the resort developers and withdrew her appeal.
Among the things the board was set during the afternoon session to consider was a final environmental review document for the Carmel River FREE project; and a cooperation agreement with the Salinas Valley Basin groundwater sustainability agency regarding management of the CEMEX sand mining plant site as part of the agency’s 180/400-foot aquifer subbasin groundwater sustainability plan.
