‘Shopping Bag Ban’
courtesy of ‘Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com’
The DC City Council voted, unanimously, to place a 5¢ per bag tax for any plastic or paper bags used in stores in the District of Columbia. The tax is designed to promote the use of reusable bags which create less landfill waste. However, just consider: If you average 3 bags a trip to the store, and two trips to the store a week, that’s 30¢ per week; you’ll pay off three new bags by March next year.
What you have to do, though is remember them all the time, which I’ve not been as successful at doing as I’d like to report.
I live and work in the District of Columbia. I write at We Love DC, a blog I helped start, I work at Technolutionary, a company I helped start, and I’m happy doing both. I enjoy watching baseball, cooking, and gardening. I grow a mean pepper, keep a clean scorebook, and wash the dishes when I’m done. Read Why I Love DC.
Don’t forget the bag that comes with your lunch if you buy takeout.
You’ll get used to it. Start now by putting some plastic bags in your bag or car. That way when the FEE is imposed you’ll already be doing it and have already saved a number of bags in the process.
The WaPo story says that “San Francisco is the only large U.S. city that has banned plastic bags,” but that is not exactly accurate. San Francisco has not “banned” plastic bags – they are only banned for grocery stores and big-box chains. It makes me wonder if the 5¢ DC fee is also limited only to these big stores, or if it would actually cover takeout lunch, smaller stores, etc.