New Economic Impact Report On Sb 270 Shows Financial Windfall For California Grocers

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - May 14, 2014 - PRLog -- SACRAMENTO – The Blue Sky Consulting Group, led by former California Department of Finance director Tim Gage, has produced a report on the potential revenue that California grocers would realize from the minimum 10-cent charge for disposable paper and thicker gauge plastic bags under Senate Bill 270 (Padilla). The report estimates grocers could generate a new revenue stream as high as $442 million annually if SB 270 is implemented. This legislation would ban 100% recyclable, multi-use disposable plastic bags.

Based on data from the Department of Resources, Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) on the number of plastic carryout bags used each year, and data from localities that have implemented policies similar to SB 270, Blue Sky projects the following:

If reusable bags cost substantially more than disposable paper bags ($1.00 vs. $0.10, respectively), total revenues for carryout bags would range from $189 million to $442 million.
If reusable bags and paper bags both cost $0.10, total revenues for carryout bags would range from $57 million to $189 million.

Actual revenues will depend on how many times reusable bags are reused, the actual price differential between reusable and paper bags, and on consumers’ propensity to choose a reusable bag, paper bag, or no bag. As specified in the current version of the legislation, all revenue generated from the fees will be retained by the grocers and would not be used for any public purpose.

To view the report, please click here (http://www.blueskyconsultinggroup.com/storage/SB_270_Reve...).

Blue Sky Consulting Group is a public policy and economics consulting firm specializing in strategic and analytical services for public, not-for-profit, and private sector clients. Their team of subject matter experts and staff come from the highest levels of government, academia and the private sector to assist clients with strategic or analytical challenges across a broad range of practice areas. Blue Sky’s Co-founder Tim Gage spent over 24 years as a fiscal advisor with both houses of the California Legislature and as the director of the California Department of Finance.

The American Progressive Bag Alliance was founded in 2005 to represent the United States’ plastic bag manufacturing and recycling sector, employing 30,800 employees in 349 communities across the nation. APBA promotes the responsible use, reuse, recycling and disposal of plastic bags and advocates for American-made plastic products as the best environmental choice at check out—for both retailers and consumers.