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Proposed Fee on Shopping Bags in D.C.

April 2, 2009

Washington Business Journal, April 2nd, 2009

by: Jonathan O'Connell

Close to 100 people lined up to weigh in on a proposed new 5 cent fee on plastic and paper bags from D.C. retailers, grocery stores and restaurants Wednesday.

Under the bill, some of the money collected would be retained by the stores, while most would flow to educational and clean-up campaigns to eradicate litter from the city’s waterways. Authored by Councilman Tommy Wells, D-Ward 6, the measure has the initial support of 11 of 13 council members.

The large majority of those testifying, before a D.C. Council committee, were in support of the fee, to the dismay of plastic bag manufacturers, the D.C. Republican Party and some charities that rely on plastic or paper bags to hand out food donations.

Many, but not all, restaurants are also opposed to the fee. Lynne Breaux, president of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington, said her members are overwhelmingly against the new fee, particularly given the recession. “Anybody we speak to is like this is one more burden in an already overburdened industry during an already overburdened time,” Breaux said. She said the measure will be difficult to administer for restaurants and difficult to monitor for the government, but she said she was optimistic that improvements would be made to the bill before it passes. “This is at a time when government should be loosening rules, not tightening them,” she said. Read the full story.