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the Ordinance are at the sole discretion of StopWaste.org and are limited to the terms defined in the Ordinance in Sections 9 and 10. In addition to Stopwaste.org's ordinance, staff is also evaluating recently adopted legislation, AB341 that also sets mandatory commercial recycling standards statewide. Also, the City's recently approved Climate Action Plan that includes a goal to be a Zero Waste Community by 2025 is being analyzed to determine the appropriate commercial recycling programs and requirements. Currently, the City and PGS operate a voluntary commercial recycling program made available to all commercial and multi-family residential accounts. A commercial green waste program will be discussed as part of the upcoming PGS rate review. As indicated, this Ordinance has an opt-out provision enabling a jurisdiction to exclude its service area from some requirements set forth Phase I, Phase II. As an example, the opt out would apply to the commercial recycling provisions but would not apply to new transfer station provisions requiring users to sort material prior to delivering to the Pleasanton Transfer Stations, fines for failing to do so, and reporting and oversight provisions. • After reviewing all material, staff is recommending at this time to opt-out of the Mandatory Commercial Recycling Ordinance. This recommendation is based on the following: • The City and PGS staff will soon begin its refuse rate review and will use this process to fully evaluate the impact of the ordinance which is critical in determining its impact on residents and businesses. • The Ordinance allows cities to opt-in at any later date once the rate review impacts have been assessed. Single Use Bag Reduction Ordinance The Single-Use Bag Reduction Ordinance is intended to reduce the volume of single- use bags distributed in Alameda County which in turn reduces the negative environmental impacts caused by bag litter and landfill disposal. According to Stopwaste.org, studies estimate that 2-million single-use bags are given away daily in Alameda County. Single-use carryout bags, especially plastic bags, have been identified as a large component of litter in the marine environment, damaging wildlife, and impacting sensitive habitat. Single-use bags have a large presence in the waste stream, occupying valuable landfill space. According to the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle), over 150,000 tons of paper bags and more than 120,000 tons of plastic bags were disposed of in 2008. The Ordinance bans any single-use carryout bag and imposes a minimum 10 cent-per bag fee for recycled-content paper bags and reusable bags requested by customers at Page 3 of 4