Just three months have passed since the Capital City instituted a 5 cent tax on plastic bag... and the results are in:
The number of plastic bags handed out by supermarkets and other establishments dropped from the 2009 monthly average of 22.5 million to just 3 million in January.
The tax succeeded in reducing plastic waste and, better yet, generated $150,000 in revenue which will go to a green cause: the clean up of the local Anacostia River.
The battle of the bag has been on the agenda of local and national environmentalists for a few years now. And Washington is not the first American city to impose the tax... but the Capital City joins those cities that have enjoyed numerous environmental and economic benefits of imposing such a simple ban or tax program on plastic bags.
In 2007, San Francisco skipped the taxing and went straight to banning plastic bags. Los Angeles followed their lead, first imposing a 25 cent tax per bag for consumers, and then approving a ban that will go into effect in July of this year. Of the 25 cents taxed per bag, 7 cents to stores and 18 cents will help fund recycling and anti-pollution programs in the state of California.
Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty points out that the tax on plastic bags is not to charge consumers out of using bags — or to burden them financially anymore than they may be with grocery store prices — but to encourage shoppers to avoid a tax in the first place by using reusable shopping bags.
"I steadied this law in order to reduce the amount of plastic bags that pollute our rivers. We want the whole world know that you can save the river and save five cents bringing your own shopping bag," Fenty said.
Plastic bags are recycled at less than 33% the rate of paper bags, and make up the largest source of litter in our oceans, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Banning or taxing plastic bags — and thus cutting consumer use — has benefits that go beyond the obvious pollution and waste reduction to decrease in petroleum use for plastic production.
China's ban on thin plastic bags in June 2008 cut plastic bag usage by 66%, saving the country 1.6 million tons of petroleum. Prior to the ban, China consumers used up to 3 billion plastic bags per day, using a third of its imported oil to make plastics used in packaging...
Based on those numbers, China uses the same volume of plastic bags in a day that American consumers use in a year... so the benefits that a plastic-bag hungry nation like China reap from a bag ban program such as this are undeniable.
But other countries have been and are growing more adamant about ditching the plastic bag: Ireland, Uganda, South Africa, Russia, Hong Kong, and other countries in the EU have been charging consumers for bag use for more than a year.
And the plastic bag practice goes beyond individual cities and countries to companies who outright refuse to provide them to consumers. IKEA had long been charging consumers a bag fee at their check out lines, setting goals for their U.S. stores and consumers to reduce bag consumption by 50%. Turns out, 92% of IKEA customers actually preferred the reusable bag option to paying for plastic bags.
In October 2008, the home furnishings giant stopped carrying them altogether.
According to IKEA's press release:
Since the 'bag the plastic bag' program began in March 2007, IKEA has donated more than $300,000 from their disposable plastic bag sales to American Forests. And since 1998, IKEA has contributed over $728,000 for the planting of trees in the US; this is enough trees to offset approximately 100,000 tons of CO2 emissions over the next 40 years.
It seems like a no-brainer. Retailers pay for plastic bags. There are resources and a toll on the environment during production, use, and especially thereafter from the use of a single plastic bag, and millions are used and then released onto sidewalks and into oceans each day of every week throughout the year — in cities all over the globe.
It's been proven that consumers will change their habits, if nudged toward using reusable bags or even simply using less plastic bags (read: no double-bagging, or choosing paper over plastic) when there is a tax or ban imposed.
So why would any city or retailer not embrace bagging the plastic bag?
Just a few weeks ago, the bag ban idea was tossed around City Council here in Baltimore. The proposal to charge consumers a quarter per bag was replaced with much less effective sounding regulations on the part of retailers. Baltimore backed out of the bag fee, and a week-old bag ban in Philadelphia only lasted a week before lobbyists, petroleum companies, and retailers pressured stores out of charging for bags.
Philadelphia's City Council rejected a 25-cent tax on plastic and paper bags. Organizations such as the "Progressive Bag Affiliates" of the American Chemistry Council applauded Philly's decision, stating it was "a punitive approach," especially "during a recession," noting it would add approximately $400 to family grocery bills.
That may be true — but only if families had no other alternative and decided to pay-per-bag each and every trip to the grocery store. I'm fairly certain you'd be hard-pressed to find an individual (let alone a family) who doesn't own a single reusable or canvas bag.
At 25 cents a bag, you might leave the store having paid $2.50 for ten bags of groceries. Or, you could nip the tax-use-reuse-landfill-or-litter game by buying three reusable bags at $1-$2 a pop and using them every time you visit the store.
But lobbyists and plastic companies have their agendas, of course. And reusable bags aren't going to help the American Chemistry Council — who shared their conviction that "consumers don't need to bear a tax in order to help protect the environment" — anytime soon.
So these lobbyists and plastic and petrol companies, whose interest lies in profit, continue to fight taxes for bags. They argue that consumers will bear the burden by having to pay more, and that it's not right to impose more expenses on the poor of this country.
Seattle-based Tucker Bags is one of many small businesses offering a viable solution. Tucker Bags makes reusable bags and has partnered with Seattle to donate 10,000 of their bags to families through food banks. Tucker's reusable bags are double the size of one plastic grocery bag and much more durable. They can more than 35 pounds and even fold up for easy storage in a purse or pocket.
We're running out of excuses. Taxing and banning plastic bags just makes sense — and cents, which can then be used for environmental causes that the bags have wreaked havoc on in the past.
And when it comes to looking down a coastline or from a balcony into Baltimore's Inner Harbor... I think I speak for everyone in saying I'd appreciate seeing fewer plastic bags floating around amidst the Mallards in the water.
And you can't put a price on a view.
Brigid
Comment 
Subscribe to