THE PROPOSED PROGRAM: The City seeks to implement a citywide Comprehensive Plastics Reduction Program, which would involve measures to reduce or eliminate the production and use of single-use plastic products (“upstream” measures) and encourage reuse of other items to the extent feasible, thereby reducing or eliminating the input of single-use plastics into the City’s waste stream and the environment and reducing the aesthetic, environmental, and human health impacts of single-use plastics. These upstream measures may include bans on specific single-use products; product stewardship programs (e.g., certain packaging and/or foodware items); extended producer responsibility programs (e.g., take-back programs for certain textiles); policies to require and/or support the manufacturing of durable, reusable, repairable, and recyclable products (e.g., requirements for recycled content in certain products); and evaluating program efficacy and conducting additional studies (e.g., additional take-back programs and/or pilot programs).
The City anticipates that a decrease in single-use plastics could result in an increase in the use of reusable, compostable, and recyclable materials in the City. Therefore, the program includes elements to increase the City’s ability to manage these materials, such as by collecting, reusing, recycling, and composting alternative materials and supporting reusable products (“downstream” measures). These downstream measures may include the construction or expansion of recycling and composting facilities; regional market development to expand the City’s ability to recycle and reuse currently unmarketable single-use items; and infrastructure to support the use of reusable items. The Proposed Program would also include public education, outreach, and engagement as well as enforcement.
ISSUES TO BE ADDRESSED IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT: As permitted by State CEQA Guidelines Section 15060(d), the City has not prepared an Initial Study/Environmental Checklist, as it has determined that a PEIR will be needed for the Proposed Program. Based on the program description and the City’s understanding of the environmental issues associated with the Proposed Program, it is anticipated that the implementation of the Proposed Program has the potential to result in environmental effects associated with some or all of the following environmental resource areas, which will be addressed in the PEIR:
• Aesthetics
• Agriculture Resources
• Air Quality
• Biological Resources
• Cultural Resources
• Energy
• Geology and Soils
• Greenhouse Gases
• Hazards and Hazardous Materials
• Hydrology and Water Quality
• Land Use and Planning
• Mineral Resources
• Noise
• Population and Housing
• Public Services
• Recreation
• Transportation
• Tribal Cultural Resources
• Utilities and Service Systems
• Wildfire
Alternatives to be analyzed in the PEIR are to be defined and analyzed consistent with the requirements of CEQA Guidelines, Section 15126.6. The specific project alternatives to be evaluated in the PEIR may include, but are not limited to, the “No Program” alternative, as required by CEQA.
PUBLIC REVIEW AND COMMENTS: The City is soliciting comments from responsible and trustee agencies as well as interested parties as to the scope and content of the environmental information to be included in the PEIR. In accordance with CEQA, agencies are requested to review the Proposed Program provided in this NOP and to provide comments on environmental issues related to the statutory responsibilities of each responsible or trustee agency.
SUBMITTAL OF WRITTEN COMMENTS: In accordance with CEQA Section 15082, this NOP is being circulated for a 30-day comment period. The City requests that written or typed comments be provided at the earliest possible date, but no later than 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 30, 2023. Comments may be submitted via the following:
Email to:
[email protected]
Or Mail to:
LASAN – Solid Resources Citywide Recycling Division
Attention: Christine Batikian
1149 S. Broadway
5th Floor, Mail Stop 944
Los Angeles, CA 90015
Or Online Submission:
Comment form link (https://forms.gle/2ZWkx9HrwSHSdrMp6)Please include the following information in your response:
- For all respondents, please provide name and contact information and identify the environmental information and issues that you believe should be addressed in the PEIR.
- For agency respondents, please provide the name of the responsible individual with contact information (mailing address, e-mail, and telephone number). List any potential permit(s) or approval(s) for the project under your agency’s authority and any reasonably foreseeable projects, programs, or plans that may have an overlapping influence with the proposed project.
- Comments provided by email should include “Comprehensive Plastics Reduction PEIR” in the subject line and the name and physical address of the commenter in the body of the email.
PLEASE NOTE: The City’s practice is to make the entirety of comments received a part of the public record. Therefore names, home addresses, home phone numbers, and email addresses of commenters, if included in the response, will be made part of the record available for public review. Individual commenters may request that the City withhold their name and/or home addresses, etc., but if you wish the City to consider withholding this information you must state this prominently at the beginning of your comments. In the absence of this written request, this information will be made part of the record for public review. The City will always make submissions from organizations or businesses, and from individuals identifying themselves as representatives of, or officials of, organizations or businesses, available for public inspection in their entirety.
DOCUMENT AVAILABILITY: Proposed Program information materials, including this NOP, can be viewed at the City’s LASAN website at: www.lacitysan.org/ceqa. Future program documents, including the PEIR, will also be made available at this website.
NOTICE OF SCOPING MEETINGS: The City will conduct two virtual scoping meetings for the purposes of soliciting written comments from interested parties, responsible agencies, agencies with jurisdiction by law, trustee agencies, and involved federal agencies, as to the appropriate scope and content of the PEIR.
You are welcome to attend one or both meetings on the scope and content of the environmental information. The virtual scoping meetings are scheduled as follows:
May 10, 2023 at 11:00am PST
OR
May 11, 2023 at 6:00pm PST
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