D.C. First to Impose Fee to Use Disposable Plastic, Paper Bags

ABC ^ | January 1, 2010 | DEVIN DWYER

[FromLori]

Starting today, the District of Columbia becomes the first major city in the nation to impose a surcharge on disposable paper and plastic bags commonly used at grocery and retail stores everywhere.

Customers who tote their food or liquor purchases home in the ubiquitous bags will now be required to pay 5 cents for each one they use. The fees will go to a fund for cleaning up the city's Anacostia River.

"I signed this law in July to cut down on the disposable bags that foul our waterways," D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty said last month. "We want everyone to know that you can save the river, and 5 cents, if you bring your own reusable bag to the store instead."

Many retailers are expected to offer a credit to customers who bring their own bags. Grocer Whole Foods, for example, already gives shoppers a nickel for each bag they bring in and has discontinued use of plastic bags.

[mamelukesabre]

I bet. Everyone knows paper burns better. sheesh.

[Inclines to the Right]

Just wait until they ban the canvass and cloth ones. It won’t make any sense then either.

[DYngbld]

Transport raw meat in a canvas bag a few times and you won’t want to know what kind of funk is living in there.

[gleeaikin]

What do you use for...dog poo?”

Use the bag your delivery newspaper comes in or the fruit and vegetable bags you use to buy apples and oranges, etc. There is no charge for using them, just the ones for final packing at the checkout stand.

[DYngbld]

That gives me another great idea, (insomnia is a bad thing) why not have the checker just put all my groceries in the “fruit and veggie” bags, What a pain in the butt that would be for the stores.

[goat granny]

I think our slave masters in government expect you to pick it up with your hand and stick it in your pocket....Is there anyone on earth dumber than our government?

[OneWingedShark]

>If you don’t have any plastic shopping bags,,what do you use for picking up dog poo?

Politicians’ hands.

[jonrick46]

If it's to save the use of oil, remember that the part of the oil we use for plastic production is not the part we use for fuel. Crude oil and natural gas are refined into ethane, propane, hundreds of other petrochemical products and, of course, fuel for your car. Ethane and propane are “cracked” into ethylene and propylene, using high-temperature furnaces. It is ethylene and propylene that are made into plastics. About 4% of all the crude oil we use is used for plastics.

Plastic bags are made out of polyethylene. Polyethylene is made from ethylene. In the United States, ethylene is made of ethane which is extracted from natural gas. If any is made from oil it is a very small component of crude oil. Actually 80% of the Polyethylene made in the US comes from natural gas.

[OrangeHoof]

How about a fee if you don’t use cloth diapers? Pretty much the same argument.

[Inclines to the Right]

Ugh!!

I am hoping that NV holds out for awhile. I don’t use the canvas or cloth. I’ll probably have to find a way to carry things on my head eventually. Maybe that’s their final goal?

[taraytarah]

Sure. You come up with a cheap solution to curb Pelosi-Flu symptoms, and they tack on a surcharge.

[Inclines to the Right]

Those bags will probably going soon as well.

They just won’t be happy until every last freedom is stripped.

[skimask]

I recycle plastic bottles and bags. When I change the oil on my car, I put the old oil in a plastic milk bottle then put the plastic milk bottle in a plastic bag then put them both in the trash.

[Eva]

Let them go back to using paper bags. Paper bags are not only recyclable, they are made of recycled paper.