Campbell's Plastic Bag Ban Begins Today!

Campbell's plastic bag ban begins today, Monday, Jan. 27. 

The prohibition was officially adopted by the Campbell City Council in June of 2013, following several meetings with local businesses and residents.

• Exempts restaurants, fast-food places and nonprofit charitable reuse organizations, such as Goodwill
• Bans single-use, carryout plastic bags
• Allows recycled-content paper carryout bags or reusable carryout bags for a minimum charge of 10 cents per bag, increases to 25 cents Jan. 1, 2015.
• Reusable carryout bag means either a bag made of cloth or other machine-washable fabric that has handles, or a durable bag with handles that is at least 2.25 millimeters thick and is specifically designed and manufactured for multiple reuse
• Exempts gift bags
• Exempts customers enrolled in the State's supplemental food stamps programs
• Allows retailers to provide protective bags for produce, meat, prescriptions, live fish, greeting cards, or garment bags (dry cleaning, clothing) at no charge
• Retailers keep the 10 cents from the sale of the bag
• Retailers must itemize the purchase of any recycled paper or reusable bag on sales receipt
• Retailers must keep records at the store for three years and make available upon request by the City.

City staff have been working for the past few months to educate the public about the ordinance and help local retailers with its implementation.

Campbell is one of several South Bay towns enacting plastic bag bans. Los Gatos will begin its plastic bag ban Monday, Feb. 3. 

San Francisco set the example, becoming the first city in the state to prohibit plastic bags in 2007 and Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, San Jose, Los Altos and Cupertino have also followed suit.

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