Seattle Disposable Bag Fee Debate Continues
Last summer, Seattle City Council voted to impose a 20-cent fee on all disposable shopping bags. While the fee was supposed to take place on Jan. 1 of this year, the Progressive Bag Affiliates (PBA) of the American Chemistry Council opposed the move and took action to block the fee.
According to the EPA, about 12 percent of plastic bags and wraps were recycled in 2007. Photo: Oregonstate.edu
The Coalition to Stop the Seattle Bag Tax, funded by PBA, the Washington Food Industry and 7-Eleven gathered enough voter signatures, and Referendum 1 is now on the August primary ballot.
According to the Seattle Voters’ Guide, the ordinance would require grocery, drug and convenience stores to collect a 20-cent fee for every disposable bag given to customers. Additionally, stores with annual gross sales less than $1 million would be able to keep the collected fees in order to cover their costs.
Other stores could keep 25 percent of the fees would send the remainder to the City. The money would support garbage reduction, recycling programs, environmental education and reusable bags for low-income consumers. The stores would also get a business tax deduction for collected fees.
Voters go to the polls on Aug. 18, and some surveys show the race is a tight one with a slight edge on the “no” side. While supporters of the ordinance say the fee will encourage the use of reusable bags and cut down on waste, opponents argue that the measure is a “tax,” not a fee.
- Ballot Title of Referendum 1 "Referendum 1 Fees on Disposable Shopping Bags" Seattle Voters\' Guide http://www2.seattle.gov/ethics/votersguide.asp?e=20090818&p=06_01.
- (06/25/2009). "Results of SurveyUSA Election Poll #15491" Survey USA http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=9b5e3974-aa50-4f8f-a325-b1109b0e187a.
- Marc Ramierz. "Would bag charge be fee or tax? Depends on which side you're on" The Seattle Times http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009593720_bagfeeortax04m.html.
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The below comments are closed and are listed for historical purposes.
Gail
posted on August 12th, 2009 at 10:50 am
I am amazed at the number of plastic disposable bags I see people using at grocery stores. Big carts full of groceries are double bagged, with just a few items in each double bag. I typically bring my reusable bags, but sometimes forget, or do not have enough for my order. I am willing to pay the price (I’m sure it will increase my memory to bring bags!) in order to cut down on the useless waste I see almost every day.
G. Sanders
posted on August 12th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
The problem begins when a local government attemptis to institute a recycling effort because the community’s residents and businesses do not take responsibility for recycling, in this case, plastic bags. I believe that the 20 cent per bag fee is high and the city council should consider reducing the fee to 10 cents per bag. If these businesses oppose the fee, then they should produce bags which can be resued and provide them to consumers at no charge. Businesses like the Progressive Bag Affiliates, the American Chemistry Council, and 7-Eleven need to participate in source reduction to reduce and/or eliminate plastic bags in landfills and found on the side of roads or fields as litter. Maybe if a bag fee were charged for every bag found as litter or collected in a landfill equally to the producer of the plastic bag and the company who purchased the plastic bags to provide to their customers, maybe then they would be more inspired to produce reusable bags.