Encinitas Votes To Ban Plastic Bags

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published September 11, 2008 at 10:45 AM PDT

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

The Encinitas City Council voted last night to ban the use of all single-use plastic shopping bags within the city. KPBS Environmental Reporter Ed Joyce tells us the plastic bag ban could spread to ot

The Encinitas City Council voted last night to ban the use of all single-use plastic shopping bags within the city. KPBS Reporter Ed Joyce tells us the plastic bag ban could spread to other cities in the county.

Encinitas city staffers are working on details of an ordinance that will phase-in the ban.

Become a KPBS sponsor

The ordinance may also require retailers to charge customers a fee on paper bags.

Gabe Solmer is with San Diego Coastkeeper which has been working on getting a similar ordinance enacted in the city of San Diego.

Solmer: We're thrilled with the momentum behind this critical issue and we think that the victory in Encinitas shows cities like San Diego and others that this is possible, that it's needed and most importantly that the public is embracing it.

The San Diego City Council's Natural Resources Committee voted Wednesday to direct the City Attorney's office to draft a plastic bag reduction ordinance.

The ordinance could be considered by the full city council in the next few months.

There are also efforts to create a state law banning the one-time use plastic grocery bags.

Become a KPBS sponsor

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

twitter

Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

See stories by Ed Joyce