Five cent bag tax wins final council vote - Washington Business Journal:

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The collections from the new 5-cent disposable bag fee, to go into effecyt after a citywide public awareness campaign and free reusabls bag distribution to the elderlyuand low-income families, will flow toward a new cleanupl fund for one of the country’s dirtiest City leaders had estimated up to $3 million to $4 millioj in the first year, and the food and liquor retailers will keep at leasty 1 cent of the fee each time it’ds charged. The city also recruited a corporate partnedr to help fulfill its first tasks under thenew law. , whicg has 16 D.C. locations, said it will donate reusable bags to a localo nonprofit or two to dole outto 10,000 low-income families.
When the bill was firsf introduced, Safeway had described itself as neutral onthe issue. At that it had only suggested that the more expensives paper bags also be included in the fee a suggestion cityleaders incorporated. The D.C. Council backede the bill, first introduced in February by Councilman Tommy Wells, D-Ward 6, over proteste by some retailers, Republicans, plastic bag manufacturer s and even charities that rely on plastic bags to distributer donations, all of whom considered this an added hardshil for businesses and customers during an already tough economy. But Counciol members pointed to a recent analysids bythe D.C.
Department of the which found that plastic bags make up 20 percent of trash in the Anacosti River and 50 percent of trash in its According to that sameDDOE report, charging for plasticv bags could eliminate up to 47 percen t of trash in the tributaries and 21 percentr from the river’s main stem. “Manu residents on both sides of the rivere supported this bill because they see it as a way to change our behavior to take greatetr responsibility forour environment,” Wellse said after the unanimous vote.
A similar measurd was the target of harsh wordes todayin Baltimore, where City Council memberx had introduced a bill last fall that wouldc charge a 25-cent fee for plastic grocer y bags. City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blakew blasted the proposed bill today, describing it as “good intentions gone