Seattle officials propose 20-cent grocery-bag fee (Jan 1, if city council approves)

The Seattle Times ^ | April 3, 2008 | Sharon Pian Chan

[Stoat]

(edit)

 

Nickels and City Council President Richard Conlin proposed a 20-cent "green fee" Wednesday on all disposable bags to encourage customers to carry their milk and eggs home in their own bags.

Forget the canvas sacks at home? Shoppers at grocery, convenience and drug stores will pay the price starting Jan. 1, if the City Council approves. A family buying six bags of groceries a week would spend $62.40 a year in bag fees. The city will issue one free reusable shopping bag to each household.

"The answer to the question 'Paper or plastic?' should be 'Neither,' " Nickels said at a news conference. "Both harm the environment. Every piece of plastic ever made is still with us in the environment, and the best way to handle waste is not to create it in the first place."

The proposed fee, the first of its kind in the nation, is the latest green legislation from a mayor intent on making environmental stewardship his legacy.

Nickels and Conlin have been working on a "zero-waste" strategy to reduce trash and encourage recycling. They also announced Wednesday a proposed ban on plastic-foam food containers and cups at food-service businesses, starting Jan. 1. Nonrecyclable plastic containers and utensils would be banned in 2010.

"It's about the use of scarce resources, about pollution of our environment, about litter in our streets and parks and the costs, both economically and environmentally, of throwing away a piece of Earth we have an opportunity to protect and preserve," Conlin said at the news conference, which Councilmembers Tim Burgess and Sally Clark also attended.

(heavily edited to comply with Free Republic posting requirements)

[Stoat]

Do you get a discount if you use hemp bags?

LMAO

Only until the hemp bags become extremely popular, at which time the City of Seattle will impose an additional tax on them, citing equally flimsy 'evidence' as they have in this matter.

Do you get a discount if you use hemp bags?

[Stoat]

I want my groceries in a box. After all they are Boxboys who are helping the clerk.

You can mailorder your groceries from Amazon.....they will arrive in a box if you do that, and you don't even need to drive to the supermarket   :-)

Amazon.com Grocery

[HardStarboard]

>>>Those bags are expensive!<<<

If they are more than .01cent a piece, I'll eat them.

.20cent bags will result in a ten fold litter problem. Even with the recycling mentality in Seattle, few people are going to be willing to run around with a pocket full of wrinkley bags to put their purchase in....except dog owners.

[Stoat]

Wasn’t it the enviro-wackos who made us switch to plastic bags some 20 years ago? What’s the problem, now?

It's a revenue stream that wasn't sufficiently exploited via mandatory taxation.

[going hot]

what about leaf bags, garbage bags, widget bags, toy bags, squirt gun packages, take out trays, fast food containers, plastic cups, plates, forks, spoons, knives, fishing lures, fishing license holders, license laminates. Seems once this door is open, the sky is the limit.

[Stoat]

canvas bags... great for shoplifters!

Sadly, not all shoplifters are hot-looking celebrities

Winona Ryder

Bai Ling was arrested trying to steal magazines and batteries from a store in an airport. She's a regular on the hit show 'LOST'.

Celebrity Shoplifters. Who's Hotter

[Stoat]

Wasn't it not so long ago that we were to be taxed for using paper bags?

You're probably right....there are so many taxes and proposed taxes that my little brain is numb from them all and I can't keep up with them all....which is precisely what they want.

Whether it's paper bags or political correctness in a larger sense, we need to quit buying into the premise until these folks at least propose a sensible alternative that they won't change in a years' time. Just because they seem to enjoy chasing their tails (many of them literally) doesn't mean I have to join them.

Luckily, I am not far from the city limits so I can shop in a bag-tax-free zone just to spite them.  And I might use a canvas bag for my groceries and I might not....but it will be my choice, not theirs.

Wasn't it not so long ago that we were to be taxed for using paper bags?

You're probably right....there are so many taxes and proposed taxes that my little brain is numb from them all and I can't keep up with them all....which is precisely what they want.

Whether it's paper bags or political correctness in a larger sense, we need to quit buying into the premise until these folks at least propose a sensible alternative that they won't change in a years' time. Just because they seem to enjoy chasing their tails (many of them literally) doesn't mean I have to join them.

[Stoat]

I use my own bags a lot.

And I'm guessing that you do so because you want to, not because you're being forced into that behavior by an overreaching Socialist government.

 I don’t use bottled water most of the time. I have a water filter squeeze bottle and two Culligan jugs I can refill at Walmart. I also compost. However, there’s no recycling where I live so I try to buy more glass than plastic. I think a person can be smart about green living. People don’t like to be TOLD what to do.

And they shouldn't be forced into unnatural behaviors by punitive taxation.  This is merely social engineering....if they truly had factual, scientific evidence that plastic bags were harming the world they should document it and present it as a factual, scientific proposal....not a guilt-laden religious ethic as so much of environmental legislation is.  Sadly for them, they have no scientific evidence, so they prey upon the public with the Left's favorite weapon, Guilt.

Series of blunders turned the plastic bag into global villain (Enviros misread() report)

Besides, the plastic bags are recycled as liners for my juice machine then I use that same bag to clean out the catbox, never in reverse ;o)

An excellent plan  :-)  I use them as wastebasket liners at the stoat cave.  If they go through with this and start adding this tax, not only will I shop outside of the city limits out of pure spite, but I will buy PLASTIC wastebasket liners as will many other people, and so the net reduction of plastic bags in the landfill will be zero.  It's irrelevant because the type of plastic used in thise bags breaks down after a very few years anyway.

I usually pick extra plastic bags out of the plastic bag recycling bin at Walmart.

Be sure to clean your hands.

ABC News Shopping Carts More Germy Than Public Restrooms

Grocery store shopping cart handles have more germs than public restrooms, making them one of the worst public places for germs, according to researchers.

If the handles of shopping carts are that bad, one might assume that the handles of used plastic shopping bags are just as bad or worse.

I use my own bags a lot.

And I'm guessing that you do so because you want to, not because you're being forced into that behavior by an overreaching Socialist government.

 I don’t use bottled water most of the time. I have a water filter squeeze bottle and two Culligan jugs I can refill at Walmart. I also compost. However, there’s no recycling where I live so I try to buy more glass than plastic. I think a person can be smart about green living. People don’t like to be TOLD what to do.

And they shouldn't be forced into unnatural behaviors by punitive taxation.  This is merely social engineering....if they truly had factual, scientific evidence that plastic bags were harming the world they should document it and present it as a factual, scientific proposal....not a guilt-laden religious ethic as so much of environmental legislation is.  Sadly for them, they have no scientific evidence, so they prey upon the public with the Left's favorite weapon, Guilt.

Series of blunders turned the plastic bag into global villain (Enviros misread() report)

Besides, the plastic bags are recycled as liners for my juice machine then I use that same bag to clean out the catbox, never in reverse ;o)

An excellent plan  :-)  I use them as wastebasket liners at the stoat cave.  If they go through with this and start adding this tax, not only will I shop outside of the city limits out of pure spite, but I will buy PLASTIC wastebasket liners as will many other people, and so the net reduction of plastic bags in the landfill will be zero.  It's irrelevant because the type of plastic used in thise bags breaks down after a very few years anyway.

I usually pick extra plastic bags out of the plastic bag recycling bin at Walmart.

[Stoat]

Store owners would keep 5 cents of the bag fee to cover costs. Smaller businesses that gross less than $1 million a year would keep the entire 20-cent fee. It would not apply to the smaller plastic bags such as those available in produce sections.

So the other 15 cents goes to the government. After that, who knows where it goes?

 

I just can't wait till they start taxing us for "sidewalk use". Next we'll have to pay a "birthday tax". One dollar for every year you've been here to plunder mother earth.

This is nuts, folks. Where will it end?
 

We can't say that it ends with death anymore, because they are taxing that.

Store owners would keep 5 cents of the bag fee to cover costs. Smaller businesses that gross less than $1 million a year would keep the entire 20-cent fee. It would not apply to the smaller plastic bags such as those available in produce sections.

So the other 15 cents goes to the government. After that, who knows where it goes?

 

I just can't wait till they start taxing us for "sidewalk use". Next we'll have to pay a "birthday tax". One dollar for every year you've been here to plunder mother earth.

This is nuts, folks. Where will it end?
 

[Stoat]

YOU are such a great American!

((((BLUSHING))))

Coming from a TRULY Great American such as yourself, that's quite a compliment, thank you  :-)

Here's a nice piece of cheesecake for you

 

 

[television is just wrong]

the wrong p eople are in power.

[Stoat]

Have I told you lately that YOU are a GREAT American?

(((BLUSHING PROFUSELY))))

Please tell all of the single Ladies you know, okay?  :-)

(warn them that there might be 'furball issues', however)

 

 

Here's a nice box of chocolates for you

 

(Don't worry....if you can't finish them all, you can take them home with you IN A NICE PLASTIC SHOPPING BAG!)

 

[Stoat]

What are dog owners going to use to pick up their animal’s waste? Cloth bags?

From the article:

Store owners would keep 5 cents of the bag fee to cover costs. Smaller businesses that gross less than $1 million a year would keep the entire 20-cent fee. It would not apply to the smaller plastic bags such as those available in produce sections.

What a delightful thing to look forward to.  Instead of it's filthy contents being masked from public view, it will now be on full display for all to see, as most of those produce bags are quite transparent......

[cyborg]

I used to pick them out but not that much anymore. I make a concerted effort to have my shopping bags in the back of my car. As for dirty shopping carts, well...I think that’s true because I’ve seen many women not wash their hands before leaving the bathroom. Human beings have some dirty habits.

[Stoat]

Human beings have some dirty habits.

A good rule of thumb:  Always assume that the shopping cart you have just selected was previously used by this person

 

and it was given a "thorough cleaning" by a 14 year old working at the store  :-)

 

[Scarpetta]

Remnents from juicing make good fodder for the compost pile. Why would you chuck it out with the cat poo?

[paulat]

Remnents from juicing make good fodder for the compost pile. Why would you chuck it out with the cat poo?

You obviously don't live in a walk-up in a big city. The streets here have "pets" for compost.

They're called "rats."

The real "Scarpetta" would know that.

[Former MSM Viewer]

I love everything about Whole Foods...especially their bread.

The Rustic Italian is my fav...

[CTOCS]

I own a grocery store. The typical plastic bag (T-Shirt style, 1/6 Barrel) costs me $0.02 per. $15 for 1000 bags.

I also gross just under a $MIL per year. According to their plan, I get to keep the entire $0.20. I go through a box of bags (1000 CT) per week. That means I make $185.00 per week on bag fees. Annualized, that’s $9,620.00. Makes my profit margin 92%. $9,620.00 - $780.00 / $9,620.00 = 92%.

Hell, I’m moving to Seattle!!!

[sionnsar]

Thanks to SandyInSeattle for the ping.

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