El Dorado County, along with other municipalities statewide in California, spends more than $25 million each year to clean up plastic single-use bags from public places, storm drains, and in our waste stream. Local taxpayer dollars are also spent to comply with Stormwater Permit requirements and other standards in communities with “trash-impaired” waterways as defined under the federal Clean Water Act. The proposed ordinance would help lower cleanup costs in these tough economic times. Their manufacture, transportation and disposal use large quantities of non-renewable resources and release equally large amounts of global warming gases. Ecologically, hundreds of thousands of marine animals die every year when they mistake plastic bags for food.