By Kathryn Reed

Four out of five South Lake Tahoe City Council members believe residents of the city are capable of washing dirty reusable bags. Bruce Grego’s lack of confidence in the citizenry had him voting no on a resolution to support Assembly Bill 1998.

“I have misgivings about this. I think it’s a potential hazard,” Grego said at the Aug. 19 council meeting.

He doesn’t think people who use reusable bags will know to wash them if juice from meat were to drip in it or an egg were to break. Those were his examples.

Mayor Kathay Lovell pointed out how she has had no problem using the bags for a couple years without contamination or threat of salmonella.

Two members from the public spoke late Thursday afternoon to the benefit of getting rid of one-time use plastic bags.

That is what the bill wending its way through the Legislature would do. Right now it is in the Senate Rules Committee. It would prohibit stores from offering single-use carry out bags at supermarkets, convenience stores and large retail establishments with pharmacies. It would allow for bags in the produce section.

Assemblywoman Julia Brownley, D-Santa Monica, has said, “Californians use 19 billion single-use plastic bags a year and they cost more than $25 million a year to collect and take to landfills.”

What the city did with its 4-1 vote was to essentially endorse the piece of legislation.