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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/02/2011 Public Hearing Transcript re: BILL#2400PUBLIC HEARING MARCH 2, 2011 A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Mel Rapozo, Chair, Public Safety & Environmental Services Committee, on Wednesday, March 2, 2011, at 1:38 p.m. at the Council Chambers, 3371-A Wilcox Road, Lihu`e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura Honorable Mel Rapozo Honorable JoAnn A. Yukimura Honorable Jay Furfaro, Council Chair RECUSED: Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami Mr. Rapozo: May the record reflect the absence of Councilmember Kawakami, who has recused himself from this bill. The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: BILL NO. 2400 - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ARTICLE 19, CHAPTER 22, KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO PLASTIC BAG REDUCTION, which was passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on February 9, 2011, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on February 24, 2011. The following communications were received for the record: ~1. Ken Taylor, with attachments, dated 3/2/2011 /2. Connie Clausen email (2), dated 3/2/2011 ~3. James Trujillo email, dated 3/2/2011 ~4. Maria Walker email, dated 3/2/2011 5. Harvest Edmonds email, dated 2/9/2011 ~6. Diana LaBedz email, dated 2/9/2011, attaching Tek Nickerson, National Director, SHARE, Inc., testimony (undated) ~`7. Andy Parx email, dated 2/10/2011 ~8. Judy Webb, dated 2/14/2011 ~9. Capt. Paul Clark, Save Our Seas -President, email, dated 2/17/2011 /10. Vivian Hager email, dated 2/17/2011 1 x'11. Douglas Henry email, dated 2/17/2011 X12. Linda Grazier and Greg Close email, dated 2/17/2011 ,~13. Andy Parx email, dated 2/11/2011 d4. Annalee McConnell email, dated 2/20/2011 ,15. Jill Richardson email, dated 2/18/2011 /16. Rox Dixon email, dated 2/20/2011 =°`'17. Mark Oyama email, dated 2/25/2011 °8. Pua Vidinha, undated .r19. David Hong, Island Plastic Bag, Inc., dated 3/2/2011 ,~~20. Pat Gegen, undated 21. Petition to Amend "Food Service Establishments" from the Plastic Bag Ban Ordinance No. 885, Bill No. 2321 Mr. Rapozo: The Chair would also like to note the receipt of a petition containing 1,625 signatures in support of the amendment. The hearing proceeded as follows: GORDON LABEDZ: Hi everybody, Chairman Furfao, Councilmembers, thanks for doing this work for us. My name is Gordon LaBedz. I'm a family physician. I live in Kekaha. I'm here representing the Surfrider Foundation. The Surfrider Foundation is a national coastal environmental group. We have 65 chapters in the United States, and all of us work on a campaign called Rise Above Plastic, and it's a campaign designed to keep plastic out of our oceans and off our beaches. I am going to make three quick points. The first one is a health issue. I'm a family physician, as I said. For 36 years I worked as a practicing physician at Kaiser Permanente here in Hawaii and in California. I had teaching positions at three medical schools in California. I was a full professor of family medicine. I know a lot about disease. I know a lot about germs and bacteria and virus. And with only three minutes, I'm just going to say that the health issues raised by the chemical industry, by the plastic industry, is just silly clap trap. There are more germs in Kalapaki stream than all the fast food, junk food joints on this island. If you look at the Surfrider Foundation bacteria testing that we do every month, we test 16 beaches every month, there are more germs in Pakala Bay, there are more germs in Hanama`ulu Beach, on and on and on. The fact... There are more germs on your lips than in all the fast food bags on this island. That is such a silly red herring that it doesn't merit much attention. Except, in this age of google and webcrawlers and web searchers, it behooves you all to do some homework on this issue. The second point I'm going to make, it has to do with my own personal opinion, and I'm not speaking now for the Surfrider Foundation. I'm going to say that we're at a place in American where people have lost faith in government. People feel disenfranchised, they're not involved, and most of all they don't vote. Young people especially don't vote. And in my personal opinion, the reason they 2 don't is because they think government is a good old boy system, it's. a... not in the public interest, but in help your body, help your pal, and I think that's what this bill is all about. This is not about the public interest. When the mayor signed the plastic bag ban and when the council voted for it, they were voting for the public interest-the interest of the island, our island is based on tourism and beauty, and when plastic bags are flying all over the island, especially most of them...you'll know. You see the trash. You know they come from fast food, junk food stores. That's where they come... Okay, the bottom line is this... The mayor signed a law that was in the public interest... Mr. Rapozo: Dr. LaBedz, you're going to wrap up? I'll give you a minute to wrap up. Mr. LaBedz: All right, okay. My last point has to do with the real public health dangers of plastics. If Mr. Rapozo and Mr. Chang, I urge you to take this bill off the table and put a bill on the table that would protect the public health. The Surfrider Foundation showed...11 times we showed the film "Tapped." It was about bottled water and the environmental impacts of bottled water. The mayor has a copy. We gave out over 75 copies of this film. Derek Kawakami's wife has a copy. I urge you, if you want a copy, we'll get you one. It's... One of the most important parts of the movie, in my view, was when the scientist said plastic containers are the new cigarettes. We are learning now what we knew in the 50s about cigarettes, we're learning about plastic containers, and how these chemicals leach into the food. When you have hot food and you put it in a plastic container, you are eating benzene and carcinogens and endocrine disrupters, and you are risking your health. And when you take that plastic container home and you put it in the microwave, you're further getting those chemicals. So if we're going to protect the public health, we should ban Styrofoam. That would be in the public interest. But to help a friend in the fast food, junk food business to me is unconscionable, and this bill should be taken off the table. Thanks for listening. Mr. Rapozo: Thank you. Any questions for Dr. LaBedz? If not, thank you very much. Next speaker. CATHY SHIBUYA: Good afternoon. Cathy Shibuya. The petition that you all created was created by my boss, Mark Oyama, of Contemporary Flavors Catering and Mark's Place. For those of you who didn't see it, I'm just going to read what it says. The petition summary and background. The council of the county of Kauai created ordinance number 885, bill number 2321, but did not look into the fond safety issues associated with using reusable bags and cardboard boxes as they are recommending for food service establishments. These food carrying items harbors harmful pathogens that can cross contaminate ready to eat foods. This may result in foodborne illness outbreaks of customers from food service establishments. The action petitioned for: We the undersigned are concerned citizens who urge our 3 leaders to act now and be responsible for our health and wellbeing by amending ordinance number 885, bill number 2321. With the combined efforts of Mark's Place and friends, Sone's Deli and Catering, Fish Express, Wong's in Hanapepe, Koloa Fish market, Pono Market, Kalena's, Mama Lucy's, Thrifty Mini-Mart in Kekaha, together we have collected over 1600 signatures in support of this amendment. I don't know if you had the chance to look over some of the comments, but I'd like to share some of them with you. One of them is that plastic bags have dual purposes. A lot of them say that their brown bags rip, and instead of re-using plastic bags, now they have to buy them. They're urging you to bring plastic bags back, especially for food. One person commented to ban the ban, and I totally disagree with banning the ban. I am a user of recyclable cloth bags. I like to use it when I do my dry goods shopping. It seems like I have less to carry into the house. But going back to the amendment, what we are asking for is plain and simple-for you to allow the food service establishments who sell ready to eat foods to use plastic carryout bags for the health and safety of the people and visitors of Kauai. Mr. Rapozo: Thank you. Any questions for Cathy? If not, thank you. Oh, I'm sorry. Ms. Yukimura: Hi Cathy, thank you. So just to make it clear to the public. The request is for plastic bags for food establishments. So in other situations, including dry goods and stuff, there's no disagreement with the existing law. Ms. Shibuya: That's correct. Ms. Yukimura: Okay, great. Thank you. Mr. Rapozo: Thank you. Any more questions? If not, thank you Cathy. Next speaker. ALAN OKUHARA: Good afternoon County Councilmembers. I'm Alan Okuhara, one of the owners for Mark's Place. Did anyone wash their bags after the last meeting? Yes. Okay, because I wanted to show you just a small sample of what happens to bags. Just a short period of time, you just get a bag, and with the contamination you can see, you know, liquid can go right through. It could be contaminated from the food that we serve, or bacteria, it goes right through, and this is only a short period of time. Even with the plastic bags, the cloth bags, it won't... It will hold the bacteria in the bags. The paper bags and reusable bags increase the opportunity for cross contamination of ready to eat foods, because after you get the ready to eat food, let's say the plate lunches, you won't reheat it, you will just eat it. So you know, when it gets contaminated, you won't get the chance to reheat it to kill the germs or bacteria out of the food. 4 Couple of reasons food establishments should be exempt from the ban is we're trying to keep our customers happy. A lot of them are unhappy because the paper bags break or leak in their cars. A lot of them, we got a lot of complaints where they bring it to their cars and, you know, it seeps all in their car. Or they drop it just in our parking lot, and you know, we feel bad for them, so we just make them another plate lunch, which costs money. The number one reason I think is people's health, to prevent cross contamination and food poisoning. You might say... some people might say, oh it will never happen, but when it does, it will affect people's business, people will talk and people will lose a lot of business, whether it's us or other businesses. I don't want to gamble with the health and safety of the wonderful people of Kauai. I think food service establishments should use biodegradable bags to at least make sure our food is safe with the people. Thank you. Mr. Rapozo: Thank you very much. Any questions for Alan? If not, thank you very much. Next speaker please. PAT GEGEN: Thank you Chair, thank you Council for allowing me to testify. For the record, my name is Pat Gegen. I've got just a couple of points I would like to make, the first one being that when the plastic bag reduction ordinance was established in the past, it was clearly to reduce our negative impact on the `aina. It was looking to promote and make us better stewards of this island, and of course, you talk about the three R's, the first R is reduce. That is the best thing that we can possibly do to help protect the land and protect the long-term wellbeing of people on this land. The more toxic substances we continue to bury in the landfill, the worse off we are overall. We have to deal with them; they are here. I'm asking you that, you know, you were recognized by the EPA for such good legislation, the county of Kauai, as well as the county of Maui. Please do not allow us to go backwards. Allowing this to go in the other direction would be backwards. The next thing I'd like to do is I did submit testimony. I'm not sure if it made it here, but I emailed it about an hour ago regarding the potential food safety issues that are brought up. One that they've been talking about about cross contamination. Okay, you're talking cross contamination. The food is not in direct contact with the bag, okay. They're saying something's spilling out, something is going to grow-that would be using the precautionary principle. Is there a chance that some of that bacteria growing there might get into the food? Of course there is a chance that it potentially could, okay, but it is not in direct contact. I personally am much more concerned about what containers we are actually putting our food in. The testimony that I sent you, one of them is a report from Time, April 12, 2010, "Looking at the Perils of Plastic." It starts out and says, chemicals in plastics and other products seem harmless, but mounting evidence links them to health problems. Why are baby bottles no longer allowed to contain BPA, a specific plastic that's out there. The same plastic that Dr. LaBedz was talking about in water bottles, we are consuming that. What does that have? Long term effects of that 5 include neurological concerns. They have concerns regarding reproductive systems on young girls. They're like hormones, okay, and these have been found in people who have been drinking out of water bottles, who have been eating food that has been in contact with plastic. The next thing-- What are they concerned about the food spilling out of? It tends to be Styrofoam, right? That's what most of our clamshells are. Styrofoam is made out of a petroleum-based plastic called styrene. Another report also with all the evidence and the reports that go along with it are available if you go to the website which you have or will have. It says, "chronic exposure affects the central nervous system showing systems such as depression, headache, fatigue, weakness, and can cause minor effects on kidney function and .blood. Styrene is classified... One more minute to finish up, sir. Mr. Rapozo: Sure. Mr. Gegen: Thank you. Styrene is classified as a possible human carcinogen by the EPA and by the international agency on research on cancer. If we are truly concerned about food safety, we should first of all be concerned about what we are actually putting our food in. The benzene, the styrene, when it gets heated up, that's when it leaches into the food. Most of the food you get at these places is warm. If somebody takes it home and puts it in the microwave, they are increasing the amount of leaching tremendously, and that would be a precautionary principle. You would not allow Styrofoam, because somebody might go home and, you know, contaminate themselves more by heating it up, just like you're talking about here. So if we're going to go towards the bags and getting rid of those, which is a step in the wrong direction, I believe, let's make it complete and get rid of anything else that has true health concerns. Thank you. Mr. Rapozo: Thank you very much. Any questions? Councilmember Yukimura. Ms. Yukimura: So I'm not yet convinced about the health issues, because there's only one study that I've seen, and it shows that the bag that's holding the food can get contaminated, but it really doesn't show the risk factor for transfer to a person (inaudible). Mr. Gegen: The cross contamination. Ms. Yukimura: And the fact that it's been sponsored by a oil company leads the results to be quite suspect, to me. But I am concerned about the concern raised by the food establishments about spillage of gravy and, you know, liquids. So what is the solution for that? 6 Mr. Gegen: In my opinion, and I've...I eat out too often, I hate to say it, but I've been to a lot of other establishments that have much tighter-closing clamshells that are made out of a more...like a paper product. Or I have seen the corn-based biodegradable ones, and they clip down much more than just the two ears. So I think there are alternatives out there, and councilmember Nakamura, you had asked, well if we had to put them all in these little Styrofoam containers and put the lids on and everything... I was very pleased. I went to a sub shop in the mall, and even their soda cups, which you know get condensation on, are 100 percent biodegradable,. okay, and they're doing that. That's not a requirement. But there are plenty of other opportunities out there and options that people can use that would be in the spirit of this law to take it even a step further. Ms. Yukimura: And if they get tipped, they're spillage proof? Mr. Gegen: I£.. I mean the soda container there, yes it would have been if it didn't have the hole for the straw. I mean that was a tight fitting lid. And yes, I've seen soup containers made out of more of a paper-type product that lasts more than enough to take home and eat. Ms. Yukimura: Are you willing to get some of these actual samples and provide them to the council? Mr. Gegen: I'd be happy to. Ms. Yukimura: Okay, because I would like to see them for myself. Mr. Gegen: potentially? Ms. Yukimura: Mr. Gegen: Ms. Yukimura: knows of other altern~ Sure. So in two weeks you'll be back on this, Right. Okay. And anybody else out there in the audience who ~tives, because I... Mr. Rapozo: You have a question for him? Ms. Yukimura: Yes. Mr. Rapozo: Okay, well state your question so we can move on. Ms. Yukimura: I asked what he suggested in terms of alternatives. 7 Mr. Rapozo: I heard that, and then I heard you ask him to bring in samples. You have any questions pertaining to the bill based on his testimony, because this is not the time for dialogue and debate. Just state your question, or we're going to move on, because we have a lot of people here. This is a public hearing today, not a committee meeting. Ms. Yukimura: Thank you. So let me gather my thoughts here. I think that's my main question, in terms of what are the alternatives to the spillage issue, which is for me a real issue, and I think one that they have to deal with every day. I mean like the...for example, paper sacks breaking in the parking lot because of liquid seeping from the containers. Okay, thank you very much. Mr. Gegen: All right. Thank you. Mr. Rapozo: Any more questions for Mr. Gegen? If not, thank you very much. Mr. Gegen: Thank you. Mr. Rapozo: Next speaker please. PUA VIDINHA: Hello everyone. My name is Pua Vidinha. I'm here today in support of amending the current law. Ms. Yukimura: Excuse me, Pua. Can you move the mike more to you? Thank you. Ms. Vidinha: The main concern of us for requesting this change is the sanitation issue. I haven't had time to do a copy of my testimony, but I do have several articles in here that also...you know, the biggest thing was the amount of fuel that is used to make these bags. Paper bags require more fuel than the plastic bags to make. It also requires logging, the fuel for those vehicles, the transportation of those vehicles. The other week I was... I visited a supermarket, and hanging up right next to donuts was this, which I'm pretty much sure is not what's supposed to be there. Donuts can be put into a paper bag. There is other things that donuts can go in to, you know, those little boxes that they have. Now, if the supermarkets are allowed to use these for donuts, then we should be allowed to be using these for our food service. These bags help prevent food borne bacteria. JoAnn, you said something about the study from Nimaloma(sic) and stuff. I found another article on the Internet that was done by a news anchor with all the bags from their newsroom, the people that work there. The lab results was taken to Dr. Michelle Brown, an infectionist disease expert at the University of Colorado Hospital. He had found that the number of bacteria in those bags, because they haven't washed it, was numerous. He also demonstrated the risk. He dusted those grocery bags with this glow powder and showed how your hand goes into the bag, it 8 goes all over your hand, gets on to the countertops, everything, you rub your eye, those contaminants goes all into your eyes. And there's a lot of people that have come into our restaurant with reusable bags. We have refused to use them, because a lot of them, we ask them the question, have you washed your bags? No. Oh I'm sorry, we can't use your bags. I had a lady last Friday that came in. I refused to use her bag. She said I washed my bag, and I turned around and asked her, if you washed your bag then how is there pet fur all over your bag. Now if that's what people consider. washing their bags and there's pet fur and stuff all over it, pet fur itself is a contaminant. They need to realize that, because your dog goes out, runs in the yard, picks up whatever germs off the ground, it goes onto your bag, into your food. And you guys also said the scenic beauty of Kauai, the welfare, the health and safety, my question, health and safety of who? When this bill was brought up, were you guys thinking of sanitation or just the beautification? I agree that we should. keep Kauai beautiful, but we all should not do it at expense of our health. Another comment I would like to make... Mr. Rapozo: Pua, three minutes is up. If you can wrap it up in a minute, or if not, you can come back after the rest have spoken. Ms. Vidinha: The last thing I would like to say is we're not saying that germs are in our restaurant; it's in the reusable bags. That's it. Mr. Rapozo: Thank you. Any questions for Ms. Vidinha? Mr. Bynum. Mr. Bynum: Ms. Vidinha, thanks for coming here today. Can you just give our staff a copy of those things that you found on the Internet so we can review them? Thank you very much. Ms. Vidinha: Sure. Mr. Rapozo: Any other questions? Ms. Yukimura: I have a question. Mr. Rapozo: Ms. Yukimura. Ms. Yukimura: I just want to make sure. In there is the citations to the study you referred to? Ms. Vidinha: That's the whole article printed out on that. Ms. Yukimura: Okay. All right, great. Thanks for coming. Ms. Vidinha: Okay, thank you. 9 Mr. Rapozo: Thank you. Next speaker please. KEN TAYLOR: Chair and members of the Council, my name is Ken Taylor. I turned in a packet of items this morning for information, and several of them are how food can get contaminated and what's going on in the industry, and I won't get into discussing that. My main interest is the last two items is from catalog sheets from two local vendors that have snap-on lid bowls and that could be used that keeps things from spilling. The second one has all biodegradable materials, clamshells, as well as portion cups and so on. There's absolutely no reason in the world that the gravy has to be slathered over the food at the time it's packed into a container. It can be put in a portion cup, and when you get ready to eat it, wherever you're going down the road, you pour it on and a lot of times the food will even be better than if it sat there for a while. But I turn these in for informational purposes and also would like to share with you a couple of samples of different configurations of items that are out there being used today. This is one that folds up and pretty stable, and here's one that has a clamp on lid that would be very, in my opnion, very difficult to, unless you just turned it upside down, to have it spill or crossi contaminate in a bag. So there are alternatives, and the problem that I see and hear is that the food industry is just refusing to take the simple steps of making the minor changes that need to take place in moving forward with the existing bill. I think it's important. The bill is very important for many reasons, and the first step of everything that's going on. In closing, I would just like to remind each and every one of you that the environment can live without the people, but people cannot live without the environment. As we saw this morning, we have a problem with the landfill and plastic bags blowing out of it, and the bill is certainly a step in the right direction to solving even that problem. So I hope that you'll leave the bag bill as it is and move forward. Mr. Rapozo: Thank you Ken. Mr. Chang. Mr. Chang: Ken, thank you very much for your testimony. Did you try to put like gravy or oil in any of those containers? Mr. Taylor: I didn't want to contaminate these while I was bringing them to you. These were delivered to me by somebody that had been over in Maui. These two. The one document that I gave you has a local vendor that has all kinds of stuff. I have used some of those products and haven't had no problem putting gravy or anything else in them. And in this, if you look, you have soup cups down here from 8 inch to 32 ounce, 8 ounce to 32 ounce with lids, they're all biodegradable. You have the clamshells with 2 ounce portion cups for gravies, shoyu, whatever. There's absolutely no reason for industry not to take advantage, and these are only two different vendors. I understand there are considerably more on the island that have these products or products similar that are available. I don't know that... Anyway... 10 Mr. Chang: Well, if you can, when you get home, if you get a great local take-out someplace, beef stew, shoyu chicken, extra gravy on the rice, if you put the oils or the grease, why don't you see if that thing...I'm just curious to see if it pops through. And the reason that I say that is I did have a call from one of the constituents that said, I had a takeout order and it didn't affect the bag. So I said, what did you have as a takeout order? A half a green salad and a half a cheeseburger, which doesn't have the local flavors, if you will. So I said, if you have a chance, put grease or shiru, or what have you, and if the bag doesn't break, can you call me back? I never heard back from her. So... Mr. Rapozo: Mr. Chang, do you have a question? Mr. Chang: Yes. Mr. Rapozo: Okay. Mr. Chang: Well, I don't know how to state it in a question, but can I just say a concern? Mr. Rapozo: In the committee meeting. Mr. Chang: Okay. Mr. Rapozo: Thank you. Mr. Chang:. Ken, thank you, but my question would be, do me a favor and try put gravy in there. Thank you. Mr. Taylor: This particular... Mr. Rapozo: That's it. Ken, please. We're all going be here all day long. Any more questions for Ken? Mr. Taylor: This container has a liner... Mr. Rapozo: Ken, hold on. Go ahead, Ms. Yukimura. Ms. Yukimura: My question is, may we circulate these while we're listening to other testimonies so we can actually see them upfront? Thank you very much. Mr. Rapozo: Next speaker please. 11 CONNIE CLAUSEN: Good afternoon, my name is Connie Clausen. I can't believe I'm back here again on this same issue, but I want to start by acknowledging you all for the legislation that you did approve. Very courageous. We were what? The seventh one in the nation. EPA acknowledged you. I acknowledge you, and I thank you for this landmark legislation. And I know that there were many goals with this. I'm sure one of them was wastefulness of a one-time use bag, but for sure I know that we were coming from protecting the beauty of the island and the marine life. So I think we're all on the same page with that, and I want us to keep looking at the big picture. There's a real big picture here, maybe bigger than a plate lunch with gravy, but the result is that, you know, in just what, a month and a half we've had greater awareness by everybody. And then when you talk too, you know, you got your bag, what do you do with your bag, where did you get your bags, oh yea I forgot my bag. It's really caused people to think about it and become more aware, and that is a really good thing out of this. So we've looked at how we can do things differently, and I think that's where we have to keep going. And what happens with this kind of thing is that change is difficult. Changing one's habits are difficult; we all know that. It calls on us to re-train ourselves, and so I think that's where we are at now. Many of us agree that this issue is really not about bacteria. It's about convenience, okay. So I can get that. Inconvenience can be a problem. Changing a habit can be a problem. I'm amazed and I find myself amazed that I actually have to acknowledge the fast food companies, who did, with the support of their corporate companies, get the help. All of the fast food companies went right to the paper bags; they're doing just fine. So I understand for smaller businesses on Kauai, they don't have that corporate support. They can't just call marketing and say, okay don't send me anymore of those, I need these. So we need to come up with some solutions. Now, I have samples. I went to Ventures, so I took all their things off the shelf. So here is a...Hamura's uses this, puts in...they put it in a soda box, talk about a renewable resource, we got thousands of these on the island, so Hamura's doesn't even use a bag. According to Ventures, they put it in this. So this is a saimin container, hamburger container, this is actually potato-ware made from potato starch, hundred percent biodegradable, GMO free, and bio-based. Hey, remember these? You know, get your takeout in little containers with handles. Here's one called earth choice. They gave me a flyer on this. I can maybe leave it with you. The schools use this, and so does Rob's Good Times Grill, known for his fabulous hamburgers and French fries. And as somebody was saying, I think Pat, they actually do clamp down much stronger and closer and tighter than the Styrofoam that we've seen in the past. Mr. Rapozo: Thank you. Connie, you want to wrap up in a minute, or if you need more time, you can come back after everyone's done. Ms. Clausen: I'll be real quick. Potato starch, Hanalei Dolphin uses this, Merriman's uses this, the closure is better. I wanted to show you...they use these for chili at Bubba's, their chili burgers, paper cups, Living Foods, Pono 12 Market uses these... So that was really cool to find out. Here's this thing Ken was talking about. You could actually put the gravy in this. This is also a biodegradable top. And what else do I have? Oh yeah, this is a bag from Alan Wong's. He's not too worried about paper, leaking, or whatever. Anyway, he's got his name on here, please be responsible, support recycling, re-use this bag. So if you want, I can see about getting these samples for you all to look at. I have to take these back to Ventures today, but we can get them for you if you want. Mr. Rapozo: Thank you. Any questions for Connie? If not, thank you very much. Ms. Clausen: Sure. Mr. Rapozo: Next... no more speakers. Anyone else in the audience wishing to testify? Come on up. DOROTHEA HAYASHI: Good afternoon. My name is Dorothea Hayashi. I'm so emotional I'm going to have to read from this. My name is Dorothea Hayashi from Hanapepe. I'm here today as a voting citizen to voice my opinion and concern on the plastic bag issue. I will admit I have a vested interest in this amendment that is being introduced. As a former self-employed, single owner, single...I mean I work by myself in my little shop, which is a food... I'm sorry, I'm just all... Yes, that's why I breathe deep; that's what my masseuse always tells me. I admit I did not realize the impact that this so-called whatever the numbers were would have on our small business who handle food. I do know for one thing through experience that the plastic t-shirt bags I used through the years after were converted... after we converted from paper bag to plastic because of the so-called earth movement. And as the paper bag evolved, it was...because of the concerns it was made thinner to make it decompose in sunlight. Now my concern is the fact that we are told we must save the earth again because of the negative impact of these plastic bags. Well, what about the Ziploc bags, the garbage bags, and the industrially-thick bags which are exempt? Are they better than the store t-shirt bags, I ask of you. Of course they are, they are thicker and hardier, so we will ignore them. They are vital to the economic growth of our community. Now humans will be humans, we're all fallible, so if the so-called study done by the biased environmental group says there is no way we can get cross contamination by using the recycle bags presently condoned. If by chance someone does get ill and we do find a correlation, does the county accept responsibility? No. As far as we've known, it's the people of Kauai who's going to be responsible, because we're the ones that support the government. So I believe that we the people of the county of Kauai should have a choice, a voluntary choice, of whether we should use plastic bags or the so-called recyclable bags that we are presently being sold, and those bags also contain plastic in it, and that we all know. So we keep buying these bags because we keep forgetting it, or we transport it and we give it to people, and here, these bags also contain plastic, so I cannot see what this all...I mean all of this about saving the land because of only 13 this so-called plastic bag. I'm sorry, I'm getting really emotional about it. But these bags, I was able to go to Wal-Mart, and recently Wal-Mart brought in these bags because the elders are asking for it, because you know, they all recycled it, they would use it to line their bags, they recycled it, and it would go into the landfill like the other plastic bags, you know, that we put our garbage in. And so now they're going to have to spend more money buying where they were able to recycle with the so-called Wal-Mart bags that, you know, we had our goods put in. So I really ask of you that you give us the choice. This is the United States of America. Give us a choice. Mr. Rapozo: Thank you very much. Perfect timing. Any questions for Ms. Hayashi? If not, thank you very much. Anyone else wishing to... I thought I saw... Yes. JAMES GERARD TRUJILLO: James Gerard Trujillo for the record. Thanks, Mel, for bringing this amendment to the table, the proposal for that. As has been pointed out, it's raised the awareness level of all the complexities that solid waste, that public safety, and how we need to make the changes necessary so that one, we're not contributing to our landfill the way that we have in the past, and two, that we look at how we're going to be handling food in a safe way. In the written testimony that I submitted via email, I mentioned I'm not in favor of making this amendment to the ordinance, and chiefly, it's because I don't think we've had enough time to evaluate the effectiveness of this ordinance and how it is reaching its goals of reducing the amount of plastic entering in the landfill or preventing unwarranted or unwanted plastic bags floating around from the tradewinds or in the back of the pickup and whatnot. As been mentioned that there are a number of alternatives available now for food service industry to use that will protect consumer health, that will provide a similar eating experience if they were to eat that meal in that restaurant. As also was pointed out that right now there are a number of other things that could be, if you will, banned that food service is participating with, whether they buy containers that can't be recycled or containers that are not landfill friendly or environmentally friendly, and that is the direction I think we should be going into is looking at what else needs to be looked at that is going to help support the integrated solid waste management plan, the strategies that are necessary to extend the lifeline or the lifetime of our landfill. And Mel, this is where I think, you know, you in the past have acknowledged and been a champion of our landfill being a crisis, and what ways can we work with food industry to look at some of those inputs that food industry is contributing, and I think the response from food industry over a period of time, that's the key thing is over a period of time, will ensure...I hope public health, will ensure environmentally responsible business practices. These are the directions that we all agreed we're moving towards for the sustainability of our `aina, of our island and our planet. Councilman Chang, you and I spoke a little bit about this issue earlier on, and right as the ban was enacted, you went up to one of our favorite, Garden Island Barbecue 14 spots, and they handed you the food in the plastic bag, and you said, hey you know what, and they made the change. I went there two days later, I received my food to go in a former can cardboard box, taped, conveniently packaged so that all I had to do was place it next to me in my vehicle and hoped that I didn't hit the brakes hard when I got home. These are the things that, the adjustments, that we all have to make, and I think if this is truly a public health issue, the department of health should be involved in this conversation that we need to address it at the food service level so that we can ensure that consumer health is being met. And I appreciate, Mel, that you've looked at it from a public safety lens, and that we can move forward with the food service being able to provide, again, quality food experience and not have to contribute to the, if you will, impacts onto our landfill, and that's crucial. So thanks for the opportunity to bring this subject up, because there are other issues that we've got to deal with, and I would say let's defer the motion to amend, let's give it a critical amount of time, and then come back and review and look at ways that we can improve the bill, ways that we can improve the strategies to reduce the impacts on our landfill. Mr. Rapozo: Thank you very much. Any questions for Mr. Trujillo? If not, thank you very much. Anyone else wishing to testify? Please... BOB BRADLEY: Good afternoon. My name is Bob Bradley, and I'm with the Kauai Monk Seal Watch Program. I hadn't really planned on speaking today, but after hearing the testimonies that I've heard so far, I don't think there's probably anybody in this room, other than maybe some fishermen who have seen a turtle who has tried to swallow a plastic bag, or a lone pup monk seal who has gotten tangled up in a plastic bag and is virtually drowning. We do a presentation at three hotels once a week on the island, and we give a slide presentation o£..on the Kauai monk seals for the tourists. And since this bill came about, the biggest comment that we've gotten from the tourists on the island is that they think it is such a great idea that we're banning plastic bags. So for myself personally and the Kauai Monk Seal Watch Program, I really urge you to leave this bill as it is. Thank you very much. Mr. Rapozo: Thank you very much. Mr. Bradley, are you speaking on behalf of the Kauai Monk Seal or is your testimony your personal... Mr. Bradley: Yes, I'm the vice president. Mr. Rapozo: Right, but are you speaking for the... Mr. Bradley: Yes. Mr. Rapozo: Thank you. Any other questions? If not, thank you very much. Any other... Anybody else willing to testify. If not, thank you very much. When is the committee meeting? The committee meeting will be on the 16th 15 of March. You're free to come back and testify. Having said that this public hearing is now closed. Thank you. There being no further testimony on this matter, the public hearing adjourned at 3:40 p.m. Respectfully submitted, ,,~ -_ PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk /ao 16