Despite some silly grumblings, the recent implementation of a 5 cent fee for plastic bags appears to be achieving its intended effect of reducing plastic bag waste. My evidence? Well, this falls somewhere between anecdote and solid data, but today I was at my favorite downtown lunch spot, Spice Express, where every takeout transaction ends with the question “would you like a bag for that?” The guy behind me in line asked the owner whether the rule had affected customers’ decisions to get the bag or not. The owner replied that in the 2 weeks since the bag fee went into effect, he had distributed fewer bags than he used to distribute over the course of 1 week.
There could be conflating factors, of course (holidays, no recent rain, etc). But it seems like a drop of more than 50% is a pretty good indicator that many people are changing their behavior because of the fee. Personally, I never got the plastic bag for lunch takeout anyway, since it’s easy enough to carry for a couple blocks. But I did find myself refusing a plastic CVS bag the other day when I bought a couple of bath items (I stowed them in my purse instead). Probably I’d have taken the bag if it weren’t for the fee.
I’m happy to pay 5 cents when I need a bag, particularly since a portion of the tax will go directly to cleaning up the Anacostia River. But the real beauty of the fee is that it makes me think about whether the plastic can be avoided for that particular transaction. Even those of us who generally try to be eco-friendly need the reminder.
I’m annoyed with myself because since the bag tax has been implemented, every time I’ve gone to the grocery store I’ve forgotten my bags. And I always have my own bags!
I think you’re right – it makes people think about it, which will force behavior change. I did this when I picked up eggs tonight – usually I would have gotten a bag, but with the bag tax I didn’t want to pay the extra 5 cents.
This is great news to hear! Even though it doesn’t affect me waaaaaaaaay out in Arlington, I’d be all for every city, county and state implementing a similar tax.
I never get bags if I don’t need them. It’s such a simple thing to do and over the long term, it can really affect our environment. I blogged about this once upon a time…
“I need a bag, particularly since a portion of the tax will go directly to cleaning up the Anacostia River.”
The DC Gov’t should put out how much money they are making from the Bag Fee. Be transparent about it and show how much of that money is actually being put towards the Anacostia River. I am more than happy to pay the fee if I don’t bring my bags and even more happier to get a credit when I bring my bag but I want to see the money being used for what it is supposed to be used for. I don’t want to see this money going towards anything other than the river.
I work a part-time job at a Borders in DC, and I’ve noticed a significant drop in customers who request bags. Most people are just buying one or two books and have bags of some sort — backpacks, purses, messenger bags — to put them. Mostly the only people getting bags are those buying LOTS of books, or gifts.
I wish they’d implement that sort of tax here in Louisiana. I also wish we had bottle fees that we could cash in, like in ME. Easy way for kids to make money, because I promise you, as lazy as people are around here, they’d still be throwing their trash out of their car windows when they are 3 seconds from home.
To all those of you lauding this further taxation (aka destruction of wealth, since we all know that government will waste a significant portion of the money collected from this tax) ask yourself this: By what principle of morality and justice is it ok for the government to tell a retailer “You may not give away your property for free?”
Imagine you want to give a loved one $100 for Christmas. Its your money. You earned it at whatever job it is you work. Would you be ok with the government forcibly confiscating 5 of those $100? This tax is the same thing. Its garbage.
Businesses never gave away bags for free. The cost of them were (and still are) included in the prices of their goods. This is just an easy excuse for an increase in tax revenues. While I can’t argue with the results because it certainly has made people use less plastic bags, I just have to be skeptical that DC will spend the money as promised. Instead of enforcing new taxes on an already over-taxed population, there should be a focus on more effective spending of current revenues and reducing city-wide corruption.
I have gone 30 years living in DC car-free. I am now considering buying a car because of the bag tax. You can’t pop into a store and buy some items when walking by. And the 5 cents is not the problem as much as the clerk staring at me asking “Oh, you want a bag. I will have to ring you up again.”
Um, okay, I try to be nice to my commenters, but that’s the dumbest thing I’ve heard all day. You want to spend thousands of dollars on a car, hundreds of dollars per month on insurance, car payments, gas, parking, etc, just so you can avoid the clerk asking you to pay 5 cents for a bag?
Surely you jest.
I have lived in places where charging for plastics bags was the norm. It was amazing how much you could pack into three plastic bags instead of the insane amount of bags you otherwise get at a grocery store for the same amount of items. That being said, even though we live near DC I didn’t realize it was plastic bags across the board. I thought it was only grocery stores. I agree that I would love to see transparency and tracking for exactly where this money is going. If it goes where it is supposed to, great. But I, too, have my doubts. Done rambling now.
Amelia, that’s great news, and I hope the tax has a real effect on plastic bag use in the long term. For my part, I would be happy if stores would just train their cashiers to *ask* if you want a bag. I usually bring my own, or carry my purchase if it’s just a small item, but at some stores here the staff are so eager to get your bag ready, I have to remember to tell them I don’t want one – and sometimes they’ve already bagged my stuff before I think of it.
To the commenters who are critical of this as just another tax increase, I think of it as a tax on the externalities that come from using plastic bags – not as a tax on the bags themselves. The government has a long (and, I think, well-justified) history of taxing things that are harmful to us: cigarettes, gas, etc. Plastic bags make a mess of the environment and cost a lot to clean up – why shouldn’t we discourage their use?
I’m pleased Washington, DC finally instituted this policy. Many more people than before are bringing their own bags shopping here in Adams Morgan; in addition to what I’ve witnessed, conversations I’ve overheard between cashiers at the local Safeway support this. What I’m hoping for next is an increase in price per bag to somewhere between 10 and 25 cents, or shops simply not offering disposable bags. The latter is the policy of at least one supermarket chain in France, and last I checked, in 2006, when I lived in Paris and shopped at that particular chain quite often, it was doing perfectly well despite the fact that other nearby supermarkets did have disposable bags for sale. In other words, a shop needn’t wait for the government to level the playing field. Apparently, why people make their purchases at one place instead of another isn’t entirely dependent on the availability of disposable bags. Are there any shops in DC willing to step up to this plate?
I am glad this tax is being implemented. Go green! It costs maybe 1$ for your own bag. 1$ to help the planet…is it that hard? We are just lazy.
I’ve been around here for a while now, and I finally found something worth writing about
It’s the EPA’s job to clean-up the Anacostia River. The bag tax is a SCAM!