Sustainability
Prince George's bag fee not dead, but needs your help
On Wednesday, a preliminary vote on the Prince George's County disposable bag fee failed to move the measure forward. The Washington Post's article explained many of the dynamics, but the headline suggested the bill was dead. It's not, but it needs residents' help to pass.
Image from Trash Free Anacostia.
Unlike in Montgomery County, where a 5¢ fee began last month on plastic and paper shopping bags much like the one in DC, Prince George's County (and almost all other Maryland jurisdictions) needs permission from the General Assembly to enact certain taxes and fees. Bill PG 402-12, sponsored by Senator Paul Pinsky (D-District 22) and Delegate Barbara Frush (D-District 21), would give the county that authority for a bag fee.
"Local bills" like this one, which apply just to a single county, go through a different and much more complicated process than regular bills. A small committee of the county's legislative delegation, the County Affairs Committee, first discusses the bill, which happened Wednesday.
This committee voted 3-2 in support. Unfortunately, a bill needs 4 votes to earn a "favorable" rating from the committee The plastics industry is paying for hundreds of robocalls, giving legislators the impression that there is strong public opposition. Supportive county residents and workers need to call and email and have their voices heard.
All Prince George's delegates are important, but one particularly important vote is Delegate Veronica Turner (District 26). She is a member of the County Affairs Committee, but was absent the day of the vote.
As DC has seen over the last 2 years, making the cost of single-use bags transparent by charging a nickel for them is a powerful motivator to switch to reusable bags. Three-quarters of DC residents say they have reduced their use of plastic bags, and businesses large and small have saved thousands of dollars by not having to buy as many bags.
Volunteers are picking up fewer bags during river cleanups, and grant money is flowing to green businesses and nonprofit organizations (including mine) that work to restore the Anacostia River, creating jobs. Low-income residents have received thousands of free reusable bags.
DC Councilmember Tommy Wells authored the bag fee as a step toward removing trash from the Anacostia River. But 50% of the river's watershed is in Prince George's County, making county the most important piece of the restoration puzzle.
Prince George's County spends $2.5 million each year picking up litter, and with new limits on trash pollution in the Anacostia River, the public expense is only going to go up. Shoppers pay more for food and other products because retailers add the cost of those "free" bags to prices Finally, it's a matter of home rule. The County Council voted 8-0, with one abstention, to endorse PG 402-12. County Executive Rushern Baker has taken this campaign on as a personal project. If county leaders want to proactively address an environmental problem, why should the General Assembly interfere?
Julie Lawson is an environmental activist and nonprofit marketing consultant in Washington, DC. A long-time volunteer with the Surfrider Foundation, she now manages trash policy for the Anacostia Watershed Society. With her husband Galen, she also owns Communication Visual, a social marketing and design studio. 
Comments
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by selxic on Feb 10, 2012 11:27 am
But in DC's case the money has gone directly to the Anacostia, so even that argument doesn't hold water.
by Tim Krepp on Feb 10, 2012 11:36 am
by ceefer66 on Feb 10, 2012 11:59 am
by Tina on Feb 10, 2012 12:09 pm
by Geoff on Feb 10, 2012 12:13 pm
DC wanted a bag reduction not to reduce trash; they wanted to stop plastic bags from clogging up the sewers and contributing to the storm overflow problem and the EPA fines.*
$37? really?
Does PG county have a storm overflow problem with their sewers? Are the bags contributing to the problem?
* the trash problem with bags in DC is mostly related to homeless people and plastic bags. Again, is that an issue in DC?
And why is PG county so different than MoCo in this regard?
by charlie on Feb 10, 2012 12:13 pm
by Locs on Feb 10, 2012 12:25 pm
by Geoffrey Hatchard on Feb 10, 2012 12:44 pm
Do you have any sort of facts that back up the idea that the bag trash problem in DC is "mostly" related to homeless people? Or is that just your assertion?
by MLD on Feb 10, 2012 12:49 pm
by Dana Minerva on Feb 10, 2012 2:05 pm
I live in Silver Spring and work in downtown D.C. so I spend the bulk of my life in places that have this bag fee. It's an excellent idea and it has cut down on litter and the number or crappy plastic bags that I throw away. Everyone I know has either started remembering to bring the reusable bags they already had at home or purchased some reusable bags for like $.50 a piece. Totally worth it.
I have no problem with the bag fee money going towards our general fund in Montgomery. It's a great idea to take something wasteful and environmentally destructive like crappy plastic bags and making something good out of them.
by Cavan on Feb 10, 2012 2:16 pm
However, I always found it interesting that Bread for the City was such a big backer of the bag bill. The only time I've seen widespread -- hundreds - of bags loose is the day after Christmas in Franklink square -- storm had blown though and knocked everyone loose.
Incidentlly, I just dropped off my year's worth of plastic bags for recycling. The bulk where dry cleaning, newspaper, air packs, and smaller bags not being reused for garbage duties. Total weight: less than 4 pounds -- although the damn thing is about 5 feet long.
by charlie on Feb 10, 2012 2:30 pm
by Ann Beman on Feb 10, 2012 4:50 pm
Let's all help REDUCING PLASTIC trash, the impact it has on the environment is irreversible and heart breaking.
by Jennifer Richardson on Feb 10, 2012 8:55 pm
by Kolohe on Feb 10, 2012 9:48 pm
If you really want to reduce litter, charge a refundable deposit for cans and bottles (preferably cans and bottles that contain alcoholic beverages.)
by jcs on Feb 11, 2012 11:44 am
People will learn to use bags when they absolutely need it. On top of that, it helps people plan for what they need to carry. I often go shopping under the notion I don't need a basket. If I can carry what I want to buy to the cashier, I can carry it out to the car in my hands. This lifestyle doesn't work for everyone, but it can certainly cut down on impulse buying and on things people don't really need so it's easier to live within their means.
I'm not entirely concerned with where the money goes as I'm more pleased with the psychological aspect of this exercise if this is passed. In my experience, PG has run a very decent recycling program so I don't see that needing a boost. Maybe parks and recreation? There are a lot of overdue projects that the MNCPPC want to get started on but lack funding, this could help, but if they want to generate revenue, it doesn't bother me if they do it this way.
As a resident of PG, I've done my part.
by Another Andrew on Feb 11, 2012 11:28 pm
Our leaders have turned a corner in acknowledging the benefits of, and public's desire to be a nation and global environmental leader. It is time for practical actions like this, at a minimum, to occur if we really want to lead, instead of playing catch up.
by Robert Bell on Feb 13, 2012 9:48 am
by Chris on Feb 13, 2012 12:36 pm
by Tina on Feb 13, 2012 12:51 pm
Have the stores dropped their prices because of the bag tax? They haven't so your still "subsidizing" the use plastic bags. I am paying for what im using already and on top of that a tax. You're missing the point that with this money that they "raised" they aren't using it for the intended purpose of cleaning up. Instead of getting pissed off at me for using plastic bags, get pissed off at the government for not following through on thier promises.
by Chris on Feb 13, 2012 1:17 pm
I am paying for what im using already and on top of that a tax. Part of the user fee you pay for the bags in DC is returned to the stores. So yeah, with a fee attached to their use, you are paying for what you use. In PG Co. there is no user fee. Thus when I shop in PG Co and bring my own bags I'm subsidizing your use of bags.
Instead of you getting all pissed off at the goverment for asking you to pay for what you use why don't you just accept personal responsibility? I'm happy this legislation provides a mechanisim for people like you to start taking responsibility for yourself.
by Tina on Feb 13, 2012 1:31 pm
Once again you are either missing the point or refuse to aknowledge it, so I will break it down. The Anacostia River Clean Up and Protection Act of 2009 (the 5 cent bag tax) has done nothing to clean up the Anacostia River. That is my main problem. If the tax was going to it, I would not have a problem with it. DC is using it as another slush fund and to try to control people.
by Chris on Feb 13, 2012 2:14 pm
This sounds like you lamenting the fact that you now pay for the disposable bags you use exclusively without making that cost be borne by people who do not use dispoable bags and/or do not want the cost of disposbale bags imbedded in the cost of their groceries.
I ask you once again, why should I, who prefers reuseable bags subsidize your use of disposbales by bearing their cost imbedded in the cost of my general groceries? Why should I support you this way?
The above complaint of yours, that you are now asked to pay for the bags you use as you use them, is seperate from your complaint about the use of the extra funds collected for river clean-up. Your complaints are twofold but you conflated them. Let me break it down for you:
1)you don't like paying for the bag per use. I.e., you preferred it when the cost was spread out among every shopper whether they used dispoables or not, thus subsizing your use.
2) you don't like it that the extra funds collected for river clean-up, on top of the bag cost returned to the stores, were diverted from the exclusive use of river clean-up.
As to your 2nd complaint, it sounds like you would be okay with the fee if those funds were not diverted from river clean-up. Is that right?
To sum up your two complaints about the bill and how it works;
(1)I too would prefer these funds were used for the purpose of river/environmental clean-up exclusively. However I know the fee has reduced use of these bags and that by itsself has contributed significantly to reduction of bag trash. This pleases me.
(2)I'm also pleased I no longer am forced to subsidize your dispoable bag use. I'm pleased this legislation forced you to start paying for your own bags.
by Tina on Feb 13, 2012 2:56 pm
We are definitely pulling fewer plastic bags out of the river at cleanups and in the trash traps. It is making a significant difference.
by Julie Lawson on Feb 13, 2012 2:57 pm
@Chris-so whats your complaint? That you have to pay for your own bags?
by Tina on Feb 13, 2012 3:02 pm
What am I supposed to do with lose paper.
I throw it all in the trash now.
Montgomery County is an awful place.
by maryland hater on Feb 13, 2012 4:43 pm
1)the bags were never free.
2)When I breifly lived in MoCo we had plastic bins distributed by the Co. in which to place our recyclables.
Maybe this is a joke that i'm not getting b/c sometimes that happens on the internet? If not, I'm really astounded you can't figure out how to get your recyclables into the Co. distributed bin. Maybe you could carry them? Maybe you could use a reuseable bag in the house to collect those items then walk it outside to the bin when its full and empty it?
Really you can't figure out a way to do it? If the answer truly is yes then I'm sorry. You're problems are a lot bigger than managing to corral your recyclables, get them into the bin and out to the curb on trash night.
by Tina on Feb 13, 2012 4:59 pm
Of that $1.5M, $1M (66%) was used to pay for government bureaucracy (which is not related to cleaning the Anacostia).
The remaining third was spent on nonprofits and "green businesses" (that's not directly related to cleaning the Anacostia); anti-litter ads (not directly related to cleaning the Anacostia); RiverSmart Homes program (not directly related to cleaning the Anacostia); and two trash traps (directly related to cleaning the Anacostia).
It would be great to see actual hard evidence of how cleaner the Anacostia is now versus pre-bag tax. Because it seems that most of the money raised via the tax is being spent on new bureaucracy or on items not directly related to cleaning the Anacostia. This isn't all that surprising since the intent of the bag tax was for social engineering, not cleaning the Anacostia.
by Fritz on Feb 13, 2012 8:47 pm
by Tina on Feb 14, 2012 10:23 am
by Tina on Feb 14, 2012 10:24 am
I think you’re misinterpreting the point of all those programs. While it’s true that money isn’t being physically channeled directly into the river, most of those items that you listed and dismissed are fundamentally tied to restoration. The problem is you can’t simply dump money into a fancy gizmo to help the Anacostia and call it fixed. Watershed management and restoration just doesn’t work like that. Much of the cleanup effort is community based, by volunteers and humans; something that doesn’t have a cost figure. The tools that help the volunteers in the clean up aren’t free and that’s why these programs get funded, to give volunteers the tools to clean up. Education programs give locals the knowledge and awareness and enlighten others into helping out and preventative measures help keep people from littering anymore reducing the strain of future expenditures to clean the river.
It's wrong to readily dismiss many of those figures when nearly all of what you dismissed have an important indirect impact that helps the Anacostia Cleanup efforts.
by Another Andrew on Feb 15, 2012 12:34 pm
Has the bag fee in DC had a noticeable affect on the rivers in DC
If your going to have a bag fee why not charge for all bags regardless of store type or bag type as all can create problems in the environment in one way or another.
by kk on Feb 15, 2012 10:00 pm
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