After some heated debate, the Vista City Council voted 4-1 on Aug. 11 to adopt a proposed ordinance banning single-use plastic bottles, but asked staff to return with a revised version that incorporates suggested changes.

The proposed ban would bar the purchase, sale and distribution of single-use plastic bottles one liter or less in size at city-affiliated events and city facilities with exceptions for youth sporting events, emergency scenarios and events or activities that have a hydration requirement where a better alternative to bottled water does not exist.

The ban would also prevent city funds from being used to purchase single-use plastic bottles, with some exceptions.

“The primary concern with single-use plastic beverage bottles is that they do not biodegrade, are easily transported into the environment, and cause significant plastic waste with negative environmental impacts,” said Cassidy McCarthy, the city’s climate action program administrator.

During Tuesday’s meeting, many members of the public spoke in support of the ban, including Fernando Hernandez, a representative for Sen. Katherine Blakespear.

“I’m pleased to share Sen. Katherine Blakespear’s support for Vista’s plastic beverage bottle reduction ordinance,” Hernandez said. “This ordinance is an important step towards reducing waste, protecting wildlife, and building a cleaner, more sustainable community for everyone.”

Community member Joe Hood expressed his support for the ban, noting the health risks associated with plastic, such as microplastics entering the body. He said that the key to decreasing plastic use is by the city setting the precedent for using plastic alternatives.

“If we’re serious about reducing plastic waste, city facilities should lead by example rather than distributing bottled water,” Hood said.

Mayor John Franklin said he would not support the ban, saying the science surrounding the danger of microplastics on the body was “inconclusive” and noting that the alternatives to plastic bottles don’t offer much change as they are lined with a thin layer of plastic.

Councilmembers Jeff Fox and Corinna Contreras said while they supported the ban, they had suggested changes, including redefining what a city event means and implementing a three-year halt on imposing the ban on events over 30,000 people and youth sporting events outside of city property.

“I am 100% percent in favor of reducing as much as we can single-use plastics,” Contreras said. “I wish that there was a way to have a unanimous vote seeing as how there’s been such a push from some folks on this council for a cleaner, more beautiful Vista, but it seems as if those are just some empty words when it comes to actually implementing an ordinance that would do something about that.”

Tensions suddenly escalated among council members.

The main source of controversy came from Councilmember Katie Melendez’s remarks about her concerns of the ban only being applied to city events. Melendez said she did not like the “neutering language” of restricting the ban to events that are city run or organized and suggested the council keep the language as-is instead of changing it as other members of the council suggested.

“I would be concerned that we are going to render this ordinance ineffective if we are only going to apply it to city programming,” she said.

Mayor Franklin then had some choice words to share over a 10-minute period, ranging from frustration towards potentially holding another public hearing if the language as-is was not adopted during the meeting to his hatred of litter, denial of the American people littering plastic into the ocean, and disdain for the acoustics in the council listening room as he could hear audience members chatting.

“Does EdCo (the trash company serving the city) dump the plastic directly into the ocean?” Franklin asked. “It’s a trick question. EdCo does not put plastic in the ocean. The American people are not putting plastic into the ocean. That is not happening. Developing nations are putting their plastic into the ocean. Much of our recycled plastic is being sent to China and Southeast Asia where it is in fact being illegally dumped into rivers and waterways, making its way into the ocean. Yeah, it is our plastic.”