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Staff says Beaufort County residents and businesses back restrictions on plastic bags and styrofoam in 6,200-response survey
Summary
A county survey of 6,200 responses found strong resident support for banning thick plastic bags and styrofoam cups/containers and preference for 'by request only' policies for straws and utensils; staff will take results on a municipal roadshow and draft ordinance amendments.
Beaufort County staff presented results of a months-long survey on Oct. 6 that found strong public support for restricting several single-use plastic items.
Juliana Zadick, the county’s environmental long-range planner, said the working group — which included Keep Beaufort County Beautiful, the Coastal Conservation League and Port Royal Sound Foundation plus county departments — deployed two surveys (one for businesses, one for residents) from January to April and collected roughly 6,200 responses in total (about 138 business responses and just over 6,000 resident responses). She said responses were spread geographically across the county (roughly one-third each from Hilton Head, the Bluffton/Okatie area and north of The Broad).
On policy preferences, Zadick said residents most commonly selected bans for thick plastic bags and styrofoam cups and takeout containers. For plastic utensils and straws, residents generally preferred a "by request only" approach; businesses showed similar overall trends but were more divided on utensils and straws. Zadick told the committee staff will use the survey direction to draft amendment language, design an implementation plan with transition timelines, and coordinate an outreach program with municipalities.
Committee members and business owners raised questions about outreach to Bluffton businesses. One committee member said they did not encounter the survey in local businesses; county staff responded that the outreach combined an email list of about 56,000 subscribers, media partners, social media, and a postcard door-to-door campaign targeted at businesses that included volunteers and working-group members.
Keep Beaufort County Beautiful chairman Chris Campbell, who said he personally delivered cards and visited downtown businesses, urged the committee to act on the results, citing visible litter and river impacts. Zadick said next steps include a countywide roadshow to present the results to municipalities and regional partners, drafting ordinance language, and developing compliance supports such as education, outreach and potential grant resources for businesses to transition away from regulated items.
What’s next: staff will take the results on a roadshow, draft amendment language and return with an implementation plan for committee and council consideration.
