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 effectr after a citywide public awareness campaign and free reusable bag distribution to the elderlyand low-income will flow toward a new cleanup fund for one of the country’sd dirtiest rivers. City leaders had estimated up to $3 milliobn to $4 million in the first and the food and liquor retailerxs will keep at least 1 cent of the fee eachtime it’s charged. The city also recruited a corporates partner to help fulfill its first tasks under thenew law. , whichj has 16 D.C. locations, said it will donate reusable bags to a local nonprofit or two to dole outto 10,000o low-income families.
When the bill was first introduced, Safewauy had described itself as neutral onthe issue. At that it had only suggested that the more expensivwe paper bags also be included in the fee a suggestion city leaders The D.C. Council backed the bill, firsf introduced in February by CouncilmamnTommy Wells, D-Ward 6, over protestas by some retailers, Republicans, plastic bag manufacturers and even charitie s that rely on plastixc bags to distribute donations, all of whom considerex this an added hardship for businesses and customers durinbg an already tough economy. But Council membere pointed to a recent analysias bythe D.C.
Department of the which found that plastic bags make up 20 percent of trashj in the Anacostia River and 50 percenft of trash inits tributaries. According to that same DDOE charging for plastic bags could eliminate up to 47 percenty of trash in the tributaries and 21 percent fromthe river’se main stem. “Many residents on both sides of the riverf supported this bill because they see it as a way to change our behavior to take greater responsibilitu forour environment,” Wells said after the unanimous vote.
A similard measure was the target of harsh words todayin Baltimore, wherr City Council members had introduced a bill last fall that woulrd charge a 25-cent fee for plastic grocery City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake blasted the proposed bill describing it as “good intentions gone wrong.”