Plastic Bags on City Council's Agenda for Monday

The agenda for the Monday, Dec. 19, meeting of the Piedmont City Council promises a relatively short public session -- a relief after the council's marathon meeting on Dec. 5, which lasted until after 2 a.m.

On the agenda:

• A formal agreement with the for use of the Piedmont Community Pool through June 30, 2012, for a fee of $16,500.
• Consideration of the city's participation in two ordinances proposed by the Alameda County Waste Management Authority (StopWaste). One would require multi-family residences and businesses to separate recyclable and organic materials from other waste. (This is already already available to all Piedmont customers through Richmond Sanitary Services, the city's designated garbage service.) The second would regulate the distribution of single-use carryout bags by businesses.

The council is also scheduled to meet in closed session, both before the public meeting, at 7 p.m., and afterwards. Potential lititgation and real property negotiations relating to the are on that agenda. So is discussion with City Manager Geoffrey Grote about labor negotiations with all city employee bargaining units.

Single-Use Bags

StopWaste is proposing to ban the use of single-use carryout bags at most retail businesses in Alameda County, with some exceptions. Piedmont, like other cities, has the ability to "opt out" of the countywide ban.

The exceptions include:

• Paper bags with at least  40 percent recycled content, if the business charges at least 10 cents per bag (which StopWaste estimates as the average cost to the business).
• Plastic or paper bags used to contain meat, fresh produce, prepared foods and similar items that are typically placed within a carryout bag at the point of sale.

According to a staff report on the issue, three of the four businesses in Piedmont that provide carryout bags -- Mulberry's Market, Ace Hardware and McMullen Boutique -- provide only paper bags, while the Valero Station convenience Store provides both plastic and paper bags.

To comply with the ordinance, Valero would need to eliminate its single-use plastic bags and all four would need to ensure that their single-use paper bags had a minimum 40 percent recycled content and begin charging customer the 10¢ per bag charge, the staff report says.

The council will meet at 7:30 p.m. in the City Hall council chambers, 120 Vista Ave. The agenda and staff reports for the meet are available on the City of Piedmont website here.