St. Augustine Beach City Commission passes bans on sale and distribution of  plastic bags, straws, and Styrofoam

PHOTOS: St. Augustine Beach bans sale, distribution of Styrofoam, certain plastics

St. Augustine Beach passed an ordinance prohibiting the sale and distribution of styrofoam, plastic straws and single use plastic bags. How far should bans on plastics go? Click HERE to vote.

The ordinance was passed Monday night during the St. Augustine Beach commission meeting. The law will go into effect January 1, 2020.

The commission says they will be passing out extensive education materials leading up to the implementation of the new law. Action News Jax reporter Beth Rousseau will have a full report on CBS47 at 5 p.m. For more on the ordinance click HERE.

By Sarah Thompson

Jacksonville, FL — The St. Augustine Beach City Commission has passed bans on the sale and distribution of plastic straws, plastic bags, and Styrofoam, becoming one of the first cities in Northeast Florida to do away with some single-use plastic items.

The city says on its Facebook page, the first ordinance (19-03) prohibits the sale and distribution of Styorofam containers and plastic straws, while the second ordinance (19-04) prohibits the sale and distribution of single-use plastic bags by retail establishments.

St. Augustine Beach Mayor Undine George tells WOKV, this push really started about two years ago.

"I think it was June of 2017, the idea of the plastic bag ban was first brought to our city. And at that period of time, we, as a city, decided to use it as an opportunity to bring out awareness and education of the issues of single-use plastics, [including] creating a negative environmental impact, particularly on marine life. So, we just adopted a voluntary plastic bag ban for the month," George explains.

Flash forward to this year, she says the issue was brought up again by the community, but this time with the idea of expanding to also include bans on plastic straws and Styrofoam.

[ STORY: Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens reducing single-use plastics, promoting plastic free July EcoChallenge  ]

George says the St. Augustine Beach community is extremely passionate about the environment and has been very supportive of a ban on some single-use plastics, with a recent citizen survey listing environmental protection as a top priority.

"We've had many businesses just stepping up and saying that they've already made the change, and that it's an easy thing to do. So, why not do it? The government is here to protect our environment and to protect those who don't have a voice. So, it's pretty exciting that our city stepped up," says George.

She says a few businesses did raise some concerns about the cost of switching from Styrofoam products to paper products, but she tells us the cost difference was found to be minimal in a survey.

Under these new ordinances, businesses will have until January 1, 2020, to comply with the ban, allowing them to use up their existing supplies of non-conforming materials. After that, George says businesses will first receive a warning for selling or distributing these banned products. Violations will then be followed by a fine of $50, which then escalates to $100 for each violation after that.

George says while this a great step in the right direction, each of us need to do more to protect the environment.