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CC - ACTION ITEM: (1) Discussion of Recommendations from the Sustainability Subcommittee to Regulate Single-Use Plastic Beverage Bottles, Balloons, Smoking, Single-Use Bags not Exempted by California Public Resources Code and Astroturf; and (2) Direction to City Manager as Deemed Appropriate.
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Meeting Date: July 14, 2025
Contact Person/Dept: Sean Singletary/Public Works - EPO
Phone Number: (310) 253-6457
Fiscal Impact: Yes [ ] No [X] General Fund: Yes [ ] No [X]
Attachments: Yes [X] No []
Public Notification: (E-Mail) Meetings and Agendas - City Council (07/10/2025)
Department Approval: Yanni Demitri, Director of Public Works, City Engineer (06/25/2025)
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RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the City Council (1) discuss recommendations from the Sustainability Subcommittee to regulate single-use plastic beverage bottles, balloons, smoking, single-use bags not exempted by California Public Resources Code and astroturf; and (2) provide direction to the City Manager as deemed appropriate.
BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION
On March 23, 2023, Ballona Creek Renaissance (BCR) presented to the City Council Sustainability Subcommittee (Vice Mayor Puza and Council Member McMorrin) four proposals aimed at removing pollutants from the region’s waterways. BCR presented items commonly found in Coastal Cleanup events, showing that cigarette butts and plastic beverage bottles make up around 40% of the debris collected from waterways.
The proposed restrictions were called the 4B plastic reduction proposals because each item began with a letter “B.”
• The first proposal was a prohibition on local sales and use of single-use plastic beverage bottles (“bottles”), which would amend the City’s existing Waste Reduction Regulations, Culver City Municipal Code (CCMC) Chapter 5.07. This proposal would prohibit the sale and use of single-use plastic bottles for all beverages.
• The second proposal would also amend CCMC Chapter 5.07 to prohibit the use and sale of balloons (“balloons”) in the City.
• The third proposal would amend CCMC Chapter 9.11 to expand the prohibition of outdoor smoking (“butts”) citywide and considers a prohibition of tobacco sales within the City.
• BCR’s fourth proposal would amend CCMC Chapter 11.16 to expand the prohibition of single-use plastic carryout bags (“bags”) not exempted by SB 270 and SB 1053, the State’s plastic bag bans.
After the BCR presentation, the Sustainability Subcommittee discussed the 4B proposals and recommended that all the proposals be brought to City Council for consideration.
On April 29, 2024, the proposals were presented to City Council. Council remanded all the proposals back to the Sustainability Committee for additional outreach, further discussion, and, if necessary, possible refining. City Council also requested that a fifth prohibition on astroturf be added to the ban proposals for study.
In addition to the recommendations put forth by the Sustainability Subcommittee, slight changes will be made to the existing waste reduction regulations. Currently, the regulations require all take out serviceware to be accepted in the City’s organics program. However, the City’s end-processor does not allow anything with a liner into the composting program. Therefore, it is impossible for food businesses to comply with these regulations at this time, as compostable serviceware products are not widely commercially available. The proposed ordinance amendments would require serviceware to be accepted in the City’s organics or recycling program.
CEQA
The 4B proposals are likely categorically exempt from CEQA under CEQA Guidelines section 15308 exemption as “actions taken by regulatory agencies, as authorized by state or local ordinance, to assure the maintenance, restoration, enhancement, or protection of the environment where the regulatory process involves procedures for protection of the environment.” CEQA determinations and findings will be made for each ordinance at the time of adoption.
PUBLIC OUTREACH/SURVEYS
The Sustainability Subcommittee met four times in 2024 to allow for additional discussion and public feedback: July 22, August 22, October 10, and November 18, 2024. Additionally, the Subcommittee continued the discussion in 2025 at the February 27 and June 5 meetings.
Public Works/Environmental Programs & Operations (EPO) staff contracted with SGA to conduct an outreach campaign to gauge community sentiments and economic impacts, per Council’s direction.
• Online and in-person surveys of Culver City residents and businesses were conducted between August and October 2024 in both English and Spanish. Responses were received from 1,068 online surveys, broken down between 905 residential and 163 commercial responses, which is a high response rate. Additionally, 72 in-person business surveys were conducted.
• Online educational campaigns were conducted and resulted in 819,633 impressions and 12,217 clicks.
A complete analysis of the survey results and targeted business outreach can be reviewed in Attachment 1.
DISCUSSION
At the November 18, 2024 Sustainability Subcommittee meeting, the Subcommittee asked staff to return with proposals on how to implement the bans, with particular emphasis on implementation horizons, phase-in plans, carve-outs, and grandfathering as options. The Subcommittee also requested a robust educational plan to build coalitions around a sustainable community, as well as research into any grants that would support the transition.
At the February 27, 2025 meeting of the Sustainability Subcommittee, staff proposed a menu of options ranging from educational only to full prohibition of use and sale of each item. The options presented to the Subcommittee were as follows:
Balloons
Option 1: Ban the sale and use of balloons within the City regardless of material, fill or location of use (as proposed by Ballona Creek Renaissance).
Option 2: Ban the use of balloons in the public spaces regardless of fill or material.
Option 3: Ban the release of balloons regardless of fill or material.
Option 4: Ban the use of fill that is lighter than oxygen and require additional weights and tethers.
Plastic Single-Use Beverage Bottles
Option 1: Ban the sale and use of plastic single-use beverage bottles within the City (as proposed by Ballona Creek Renaissance).
Option 2: Ban the sale and use of plastic single-use beverage bottles under 1 gallon within the City.
Option 3: Ban the sale and use of plastic single-use beverage bottles, except for water bottles, within the City.
Option 4: Expand the current Waste Reduction Regulations to ban any single-use plastic beverage bottles from use or distribution in City facilities or City-sponsored events.
Option 5: Require an additional fee for the purchase of single-use plastic beverage bottles to offset the cost of climate initiatives in the City.
Plastic Carry-Out Bags
Option 1: Ban the sale/distribution and use of all plastic carry-out bags Citywide (not just grocery stores and those restricted by SB 1053).
Option 2: Ban the sale/distribution of all plastic carry-out bags Citywide (allowing use of existing bags).
Option 3: Match the State regulations in SB 1053 banning carry-out bags in grocery stores, retail stores with a pharmacy, convenience stores, food marts and liquor stores.
Smoking
Option 1: Ban all outdoor smoking Citywide and consider a ban on tobacco sales.
Option 2: Ban outdoor smoking outside of specific smoking zones with appropriate receptacles to mitigate litter.
Astroturf
Option 1: Ban the sale and use of astroturf on any property type Citywide.
Option 2: Ban the sale and use of astroturf and require the removal of existing astroturf Citywide within a prescribed period of time.
The Subcommittee discussed each proposal and moved the below recommendations for consideration by the full City Council.
Plastic Single-Use Beverage Bottles
• Expand the current Waste Reduction Regulations to ban any single-use plastic beverage bottle from use or distribution in City facilities or City-sponsored events.
• Require an additional fee for the purchase of single-use plastic beverage bottles to offset the cost of climate initiatives in the City.
Balloons
• Ban the use of balloons in the public spaces regardless of material or fill.
• Ban the release of balloons regardless of material or fill.
• Ban the use of fill that is lighter than oxygen and require additional weights and tethers.
• Requested that Economic Development advise businesses who have over 50% of their business dependent on balloons and begin a transition to alternative décor items.
Smoking
• Ban outdoor smoking outside of specific smoking zones with appropriate signage and receptacles to mitigate litter.
(Note: Culver City currently prohibits smoking in outdoor dining areas, parks and recreational areas, and multi-unit housing.)
Plastic Carry-Out Bags
• Ban the sale/distribution of all plastic carry-out bags citywide (allowing use of existing bags by shoppers).
Astroturf
• Ban the sale and use of astroturf on any property type citywide.
At the request of Ballona Creek Renaissance, the Sustainability Subcommittee met again on June 5, 2025 to review the proposals again before proceeding to Council, but no change was made to the February 2025 recommendations.
LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK
Due to the State of California’s focus on sustainability, there are many discussions and numerous actions currently moving forward at the legislative level to reduce and discourage plastic.
SB 54 is sweeping legislation signed by Governor Newsom in 2022.
• SB 54 requires that by January 1, 2028, at least 30% of plastic items sold, distributed or imported into the state be recyclable. By 2032, that number rises to 65%.
• It also calls for a 25% reduction in single-use plastic waste by 2032 and provides CalRecycle with the authority to increase that percentage if the amount of plastic in the economy and waste stream grows.
• For expanded polystyrene (which is already banned in Culver City), that number needs to reach 25% by 2025.
The bill relies on Extended Producer Responsibility, which shifts the responsibility of waste from consumers and jurisdictions to companies manufacturing products with environmental impacts. It also gives plastics companies extensive oversight and authority in terms of the program’s management, execution, and reporting, via a Producer Responsibility Organization, which will be made up of industry representatives.
SB 54 is a compromise to prevent environmental groups from proposing ballot measures to ban plastics, however, there is concern rising among environmentalists about the ability of the industry to properly self-regulate and whether CalRecycle will enforce its regulations.
Other Municipal/Agency Action
Staff has conducted extensive interviews with many agencies with similar bans in place, including Irvine, Hermosa Beach, Laguna Beach, and South Lake Tahoe. Many agencies reported that self-enforcement is the main compliance structure and that proactive enforcement is rare. In many cases, just having the ordinances in place provided social pressure to self-enforce.
The following is a summary of existing local legislation around the product restrictions posed.
Single-Use Plastic Beverage Bottles
• Only one municipality in the nation has banned plastic beverage bottles. Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts banned single-use beverage bottles smaller than 34 ounces in 2022.
• Agencies banning bottles: San Francisco International Airport (August 2019) banned all plastic bottles; and Los Angeles International Airport (June 2023) has banned plastic water bottles. Airports are able to easily achieve compliance because customers are not able to bring these items past security checkpoints.
• The City of South Lake Tahoe and Town of Truckee, both banned plastic water bottles in 2024. These are relatively remote locations (like Martha’s Vineyard), which prevents customers from easily buying these items outside of jurisdictional limits.
• Locally, the City of Los Angeles has banned plastic water bottles at City facilities and events and encouraged the installation of water refill stations in public spaces. Santa Monica goes a step further by banning all single-use plastic bottles at City facilities, parks, and events.
Balloons
Balloon regulation has taken a multi-pronged path because some agencies are focused on stormwater/litter and others on fire prevention.
• The County of Los Angeles restricts the use of floating metallic balloons outdoors.
• Laguna Beach and Manhattan Beach prohibit the sale, distribution, and use of all balloons on public property and City facilities, as well as restricting the release of helium balloons.
• Long Beach prohibits the sale, distribution, and use of mylar balloons specifically, and bans the release of all balloons filled with helium.
• Redondo Beach and Hermosa Beach ban the release of balloons, and Hermosa Beach goes further by banning the sale of mylar balloons and use of all balloons at City events.
Smoking
• The City of Manhattan Beach has banned the sale of tobacco and vape products and has banned smoking in all public places and in multi-family housing.
• Hermosa Beach bans public smoking and requires businesses to purchase an annual tobacco license to control the sale of smoking products to minors.
• Beverly Hills has banned the sale of most smoking products and does not allow smoking in public spaces or multi-family housing.
Plastic Bags
Most agencies have modeled their plastic bag bans on the State’s ban, which was recently strengthened with SB 1053, which bans single-use plastic bags at grocery check-outs.
Astroturf
Culver City, Long Beach, Beverly Hills and Santa Monica prohibit artificial turf in most public and private landscaping projects with exceptions for recreational uses.
Enforcement
The recommendations that were made by the Sustainability Subcommittee would not require additional staffing at this time. Enforcement would be tailored towards each specified product, as they all have different levels of proposed restriction. Dedicated educational outreach would be a centerpiece of enforcing each change in the ordinance. Additionally, the outreach would encourage overall reduction in consumption instead of just replacing one material with another.
Timeline
The timeline would be determined after Council’s approval of the bans as recommended by the Sustainability Subcommittee and how quickly Council would like to see them implemented.
FISCAL ANALYSIS
There is no fiscal impact associated with the discussion of the Sustainability Subcommittee’s recommended regulations. Depending on what regulations Council wishes to pursue, there may be additional costs or revenue impacts to be considered. Additional costs may include consultant services, advertising and supplies to support educational outreach as well as additional code enforcement staff depending on Council direction. Some regulations under consideration may have the potential to impact the City’s revenues from sales tax, business license tax and other sources.
ATTACHMENTS
1. 2025-07-14_ATT_ 4B Survey Results and Analysis
MOTIONS
That the City Council:
1. Discuss recommendations from the Sustainability Subcommittee to regulate single-use plastic beverage bottles, balloons, smoking, and single-use bags not exempted by California Public Resources Code; and
2. Provide direction to the City Manager as deemed appropriate.