Agenda

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TRANSPORTATION, WATER & INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE

Meeting Date:	08/12/2019
Subject: RECEIVE and CONSIDER public comments on the draft ordinance to ban the sale and use of polystyrene (Styrofoam) food and beverage containers.
Submitted For:	Brian M. Balbas, Public Works Director/Chief Engineer
Department:	Public Works
Referral No.:	5
Referral Name:	Review issues associated with the health of the San Francisco Bay and Delta, including water quality.
Presenter:	Tim Jensen, Department of Public Works	Contact:	Cece Sellgren (925)313-2296

Information

Referral History:

The Regional Water Quality Control Boards issue the County a stormwater permit on a five-year recurring cycle. The first permit was issued in 1993 and the current permit was issued in November 2015. The objective of the permit is to reduce pollutants in stormwater to improve stormwater quality, and increase stormwater infiltration into soils to improve watershed health.

Trash is considered a pollutant and the stormwater permit includes ambitious trash reduction targets. To meet the trash reduction targets, the County prepared a trash reduction plan that included a variety of control measures. One of the control measures to reduce trash is to ban polystyrene (Styrofoam) food and beverage containers as polystyrene is light and easily blown into waterways where it tends to break down into smaller pieces that are difficult to remove from the environment.

Referral Update:

The new stormwater permit, referred to as the Municipal Regional Permit 2.0, follows the prior Municipal Regional Permit 1.0 issued at the end of 2009. The Committee has reviewed several issues related to the stormwater permit, and Board members have testified before the Regional Water Board several times describing the impacts their stormwater permit has on County operations and the County budget.

The Committee first heard this topic on November 8, 2018, which was the initiation of an effort to adopt an ordinance that would ban polystyrene food and beverage containers.

Recommendation(s)/Next Step(s):

CONSIDER a draft ordinance to ban the use and sale of polystyrene food and beverage containers and any public comments received, PROVIDE staff with any suggested changes to the draft ordinance, and FORWARD the draft ordinance to the full Board for consideration and with a recommendation for adoption.

Fiscal Impact (if any):

The annual cost to enforce a polystyrene ban is estimated to be $25,000.

Attachments
Ordinance
Letter
Memo