All Cities in on County-Wide Plastic Bag Ban

Starting next year, every store selling packaged foods in Alameda County will no longer provide its customers with single-use bags.

The Alameda County Waste Management Authority (Stopwaste.org) announced Tuesday that none of Alameda County's 14 cities chose to overrule the ban. Local jurisdictions were given until March 2 to opt out of the ordinance.

“We’re proud to have led this historic countywide effort,” said Gary Wolff, StopWaste.Org executive director. “The ordinance will not only reduce waste to landfills and protect waterways, but also save money for local governments by reducing litter.”

The ordinance prohibiting single-use bags go into effect on Jan. 1, 2013.

Recycled-content paper and reusable bags could be provided by retailers, but only at a minimum cost of $0.10 per bag to customers, the press release states. But that cost will rise to $0.25 per bag on Jan. 2, 2015 if the county board finds that the $0.10 charge does not efficiently discourage single-use bags.

The Alameda County Waste Management Authority passed the ordinance on Jan. 25 with reason to believe that restricting the distribution of single-use bags could lower pollution.