CUMBERLAND — Pick Up America, a group of litter haters hoping to create a trash-free Maryland, believes that a disposable bag fee will be a big step in that direction.
Sen. Jamie Raskin and Delegate Al Carr have pledged support within the Maryland General Assembly for a law that would charge consumers a nickel every time a disposable bag is provided at a food or liquor store. No bills had yet been submitted as of mid-day Friday.
A panel discussion about the effort will take place Thursday at noon at the Lowe House Office Building, Room 142, in Annapolis.
“This has nothing to do with generating revenue, but everything to do with altering behavior,” said Pick Up America’s Davey Rogner on Monday.
Rogner said not only would a fee mean fewer bags that are unpleasant to see, but would save taxpayer money. He cited costs to the State Highway Administration for picking up plastic bags along the roadside.
The law, Rogner said, would encourage consumers to bring sturdy, reusable bags when they make purchases.
“People on food stamps would be exempt from paying the 5 cents. Vendors at farmers markets would be exempt,” Rogner said. “Money from the program would be used by stores to provide free, permanent bags to the elderly.”
The program would be administered by the state, but revenue would be channeled to the Chesapeake Bay Trust and used to fund public environmental projects and programs, according to Rogner.
“The District of Columbia has had a bag fee since January 2010 and it has brought in more than $2 million and has decreased bag consumption nearly 80 percent,” Rogner said.
Maryland would become the first state to adopt a disposable bag fee, though California has outlawed the plastic pokes.
Rogner said a fee in Ireland has reduced bag use by 90 percent. That country charges 10 cents per bag.
Traditional opposition to restrictions on disposable bags, according to Rogner, comes from the American Chemistry Council and the Maryland Retailers Association.
MRA spokesman Jeff Zellmer said Tuesday that the association opposes a bag fee.
“This isn’t virginal legislation,” Zellmer said. “It has been submitted the past two sessions and died in committee. Again this year, it won’t pass the fiscal impact smell test,” he added, referring to the cost to the state to administer the program.
“We support House Bill 341 that will require stores to establish take-back or recycling bins for disposable bags,” Zellmer said.
That legislation has been introduced by Delegate Stephen Lafferty.
Zellmer believes that most disposable bags found blowing around the countryside don’t come from Walmart or Target or food markets, but from convenience stores where somebody buys a doughnut or a hot dog and pitches the poke out the car window.
Rogner said he and other members of Pick Up America walked the length of Maryland this past summer, picking up more than 24,000 items of rubbish, 10 percent of which were disposable bags.
A bag fee is supported by the Anacostia Watershed Society.
Ditto for the Maryland Chapter of the Sierra Club, whose website states, “Hundreds of stream cleanups are held in Maryland each year and one of the biggest culprits polluting our waterways, and urban trees, are plastic bags. Ninety-nine percent of all plastic bags in the U.S. are not being reused.”
Contact Michael A. Sawyers at msawyers@times-news.com.
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