The five cent charge on plastic bags in Washington D.C.

A number of months ago, I wrote about plastic bag charging in the City of Toronto. As of June 1, 2009 the city passed a by-law requiring all stores under the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers (CFIG) to bring about a five cent charge on plastic bags. I do not know the specific statistics, but I would imagine that plastic bag use has dropped with the introduction of the charge.

What I do know is that Washington D.C. has been very successful with their plastic bag charging initiative. The five cent disposable bag fee took effect this January 2010 and like Toronto, it received a tonne of opposition off the bat. The Office of Tax and Revenue reported that the city brought in $150,000 in bag fee revenue in the month of January alone! The big question for all of these charging schemes is what you do with the revenue raised from the charge. What the revenue is spent on in Toronto is quite nebulous, ostensibly it goes to "environmental projects".. whatever that means.

In D.C., the $150,000 will go towards cleaning up the Anacostia River. That is a wonderful initiative and it is good to know that D.C. cares about its natural environmental features. In terms of the plastic bags themselves, about 3 million of them were purchased in January, a drop from the average 22.5 million per month that the city is accustomed to.

We know that the rationale of the five cent charge is to induce citizens to change their behaviour to cut down on their use of plastic bags. In general, a user charge can persuade citizens to make the investment in buying reusable bags which are sturdier, compact and can carry a higher volume of groceries. D.C. provides evidence that such a five cent charge has actually been working and has changed consumer behaviour tremendously.

More fascinating to me is the city's inclination to use the revenue on cleaning up the Anacostia River. The river is something that everyone could relate to. It is a natural environmental feature that has only become more polluted and inundated with things like plastic bags. With a clear vision to clean up their own environment, I think we should applaud D.C. for its hitherto successful five cent charge initiative.

Key message: Changing consumer behaviour, getting D.C. residents to think about the river and cutting down on plastic bags are all positive endeavors for the present and for the future.