If You Are Passionate About The Environment and A-Zero Waste Gainesville....

This is a developing story as I plan to attend Thursday's meeting. It's been a contentious topic for our city, given the role of the university and the city's ardent interest in the environment.

Reportedly, Gainesville’s City Commission is making another push for a zero-waste city.

The city is planning a discussion of a new ordinance for plastic and Styrofoam ban. This initiative will start with a reading of a new ordinance scheduled for January 2019.

City Commissioner for District 4 Adrian Hayes-Santos told me some local businesses like Mia Apa have already started making moves towards eliminating bags and Styrofoam, so the next step is to find a way to bring everyone into the fold.

Hayes-Santos is a member of the Alachua County Environmental Protection Advisory Committee. He insisted on keeping Gainesville at the forefront of the environment.

The City Commission was one vote shy in March from moving forward on banning Styrofoam containers and single-use plastic bags across the city. He also said since the meetings in March, he has host four public town hall meetings on zero waste ordinance. The response has been positive, and most businesses are willing to cooperate.

“We’re not seeing actions from the federal level or at the state level. So, it really creates more obligations to take actions at a local level,” Hayes-Santos said.

Some restaurant owners, however, say city leaders are moving much too fast.

I visit Loosey’s Downtown Gainesville Wednesday night. The owner Danny Hughes shared he supports positive actions on the environment and has been following the developments of the zero-waste goal. Yet, he expressed frustrations on why the city keeps disregarding the financial consequences businesses like his would face.

“You would start to see customers starting to leave when business owners foist the increased costs upon them,” Hughes said. “What’s next? Plastic cups and straws? The city needs to cooperate with businesses better.”

Hayes-Santos said he expects most of the changes to have a low or no cost. He noted a few exemptions, from plastic bags for picking up dog waste to Styrofoam plates for meat products in the grocery store.

According to the agenda, the most that will come out of Thursday night is instructions for staff to write an ordinance, and at least 3 votes will then follow before the ordinance is approved.

Please join me and the city commission at 6:30 p.m. Thursday for the discussion of Styrofoam and plastic ban. We need well-measured and -established proposals for this issue.