San Luis Obispo, CA -- A proposed ban on the use of paper and plastic bags at retailers countywide could come closer to approval Wednesday as an obscure county board takes up the issue. Stores would still be allowed to offer thicker paper and plastic bags with handles, intended for reuse, under a proposed ordinance before the county’s Integrated Waste Management Authority board. Customers would be required to buy those bags at a cost of 5 cents each. The county board will not vote on the final draft of the ordinance for San Luis Obispo County until November.

Officials hope to have the law in place by September 1, 2012, throughout the county, including inside city limits. Farmers markets and nonprofit thrift stores would be exempt. Sitting on the Integrated Waste Management Authority’s board of directors are all five county supervisors, a representative from each of the county’s seven cities, and a representative of the Cambria Community Services District.