The Washington DC disposable bag fee we told you about has been in effect for two months now, and we thought we’d write a quick follow up. As people adjust to the new five-cent fee, shoppers are assembling a wardrobe of bags that are functional, fashionable or both. They are getting used to bringing their own, even if they have to rush back to their cars to retrieve them. Many are buying reusable bags at store registers.
For many shoppers in the District of Columbia, the nickel fee has been an impetus to cut back on previously free store bags that all too often wind up in the trash – or littering nearby streams and trees. As we discussed a few weeks ago, the law is also making Baltimore residents more aware of their bagging habits. Many retailers gave out reusable bags last month. The Bethesda Trader Joe’s has signs outside to remind customers to bring in bags from their cars. Judy Philactos, owner of the Periwinkle gift shop in Chevy Chase, D.C., recently had to reorder all of her lines of reusable bags because of brisk sales. Food retailers say they’re selling roughly 50 percent fewer plastic and paper bags than they used to give away before the fee took effect Jan. 1.
Government fees or restrictions on disposable bags have had a tough time taking hold. The District of Columbia, however, appears to have overcome the traditional resistance with a relatively small fee that is earmarked for a popular environmental cause—cleanup of the Anacostia River—plus a concerted public education campaign that includes merchants giving away free reusable bags and offering discounts to customers who use them.
