News

38 percent of businesses not complying with D.C. 5-cent bag fee

May 24, 2011 – TBD –

It’s been nearly 18 months since the District started enforcing its controversial bag tax, requiring a five-cent fee for each paper or plastic bag provided to customers.

Since the law began, a “secret shopper” has randomly inspected businesses to see if they’re charging that fee. And 38 percent of them are not.

For Long Beach, Plastic Bag Ban And Tax Is Bad Policy, For Councilman DeLong It’s Bad Politics

May 11, 2011 – Flash Report –

For those lovers of liberty and freedom in Long Beach, I have some bad news for you. This coming Tuesday, your city council is looking to pass a city-wide plastic grocery bag ban and tax ordinance that is identical to the one passed by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors last November.

Bag This Tax

May 8, 2011 – Maryland Public Policy Institute –

Is a “bag tax” coming to Maryland? The state taxes pretty much everything else, so it seems likely legislators will eventually get around to imposing a tax on plastic grocery bags. DC and Montgomery County are already doing it, and you know that if these jurisdictions have a bad idea, it’s going to spread to the rest of Maryland soon. This tax will be promoted as a tax to help the environment, but recent evidence indicates this is a weak justification for this tax scheme.

Don’t ban, tax plastic bags

May 1, 2011 – Lexington Herald-Leader –

The environmentalist mantra used to be the three Rs: “reduce, reuse, recycle.” When it comes to plastic bags, however, the only R legislators and activists seem interested in doing is “reducing consumer choice.” Oh, and maybe an F, for “Forcing consumers to use fabric-like reusable bags.”

Are reusable bags doing the good we think they are?

April 25, 2011 – Mother Nature Network –

As we accumulate more reusable bags, many of them go unused. Reusable bags are creating their own environmental problems. What’s the answer?

Are reusable bags doing the good we think they are?

April 25, 2011 – Mother Nature Network –

As we accumulate more reusable bags, many of them go unused. Reusable bags are creating their own environmental problems. What’s the answer?

Plastic bags: Read the bill

April 22, 2011 – Democrat Herald –

Oregon used to be a friendly place, fairly relaxed about what it allowed people to do. Live and let live was the unspoken motto. Not any more.

More plastics recycling, not fees and bans, will reduce litter

April 18, 2011 – Oregonian –

An editorial last week in The Oregonian concludes that the Legislature has a choice: Adopt a flawed bill that bans plastic grocery bags and imposes new fees on Oregon shoppers or do nothing at all to reduce plastic litter. That’s a false choice.

Reusable Bags May Hold a Special Surprise for Shoppers

April 17, 2011 – Reason Foundation –

Environmentally conscious consumers that have caught the reusable bag bug might be getting more than they bargained for. A University of Arizona study published last year found that reusable plastic bags may be just as good as carrying around harmful bacteria as groceries.

“Eco-Friendly” Reusable Bags Not So Green After All?

April 11, 2011 – Reason Foundation –

Washington, D.C.’s first-in-the-nation tax on plastic bags has spawned a wave of eco-enthusiasm that’s seen 64 similar measures pop up across the country in 2011 alone.