West Bridgewater wants a grocery bag tax

February 18, 2009 12:30 PM Email| Comments (12)| Text size – +

(David L. Ryan/Globe Staff/file)

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

Proposals to ban or tax disposable grocery bags have become as ubiquitous and stubborn as, well, a plastic bag in a landfill.

A bill that would impose a tax of 2 to 15 cents a bag has been floated on Beacon Hill since at least 2007. The Boston City Council has discussed banning plastic bags, as has the town of Plymouth. In New York City, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg proposed charging shoppers 6 cents for each plastic bag, and the Los Angeles City Council voted to ban all plastic bags in stores by July 2010 unless the state Legislature imposes a 25-cent per bag fee.

Now comes West Bridgewater. The board of selectmen voted 2-1 last night to send a letter to the state Legislature asking for the authority to impose a 5-cent tax on each grocery bag, paper or plastic. But there's a twist.

"I want the money to stay in the local community," said Jerry Lawrence, chairman of the board of selectman, today in a telephone interview. "We are the ones that have to deal with the trash and the recycling."

The goal, Lawrence explained, is to get people to change their habits and reduce the number bags, not raise revenue. Like the 5-cent fee on bottles and cans, a grocery bag tax would prompt people to change their lifestyle.

"I'm not an advocate for taxes or fees -- fees are nothing more than a hidden tax," Lawrence said. "But if it can be a win, win, it should be a go."

The tax is widespread in Europe. In 2002, Ireland imposed a tax that now has shoppers paying 33 cents per plastic bag. Within weeks, plastic bag use dropped 94 percent and now almost the entire country relies on reusable cloth bags. A law went into effect in Seattle last month that levies a 20-cent fee on all disposable paper or plastic bags. And last March, Ikea stores in the United States began charging 5 cents per plastic bag and saw usage drop 92 percent. That meant 64 million fewer bags.

On Beacon Hill, Senator Brian A. Joyce has refiled a proposal that the Milton Democrat has been pushing since he wrote an op-ed article for the Globe in November 2007. Joyce could not be immediately reached today for comment so it was not clear why the measure did not pass last year.

In West Bridgewater, Lawrence said he wants city and towns to reap the revenue from what he sees as an inevitable tax. Trucchi's Supermarkets, for example, used 2 million bags last year, Lawrence said, and that is only one small chain in southeastern Massachusetts.

"I think people right now think I'm crazy, but it is going to happen and it is going to happen across the country," Lawrence said. "Trash is a national issue, not just in West Bridgewater."

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12 comments so far...

I only use cloth bags.

Of course, I always forget to bring them with me when I go to the market, so I end up buying another bag when I get there.

Now I have ten cloth bags in my house.

Posted by John Keith February 18, 09 02:19 PM

I use paper bags for recyling, I put all papers, newspapers boxes, cardboard packaging in the paper bags. Please do not tax paper bags just tax plastic bags. Most of the people I talk too use the paper bags to recycle, it the have to pay for them they will stop recycling newspapers and cardboard boxes.

Posted by CUNWDW February 18, 09 02:40 PM

Like the 5-cent fee on bottles and cans, a grocery bag tax would prompt people to change their lifestyle.

Wrong. The 5 cent fee on bottles and cans is a deposit, which you can get back. While a non-refundable fee for bags may encourage less use, don't compare it to a bottle deposit, as it is not.

Posted by wrj February 18, 09 03:27 PM

They already do this across Europe. I think its a great idea!

Posted by JM February 18, 09 03:35 PM

That picture speaks a thousand words, but here are a few choice ones right from the text of the bill itself:

"Section 3. No customer shall pay an excise on: the customer�s own plastic or compostable plastic carryout bag that the customer brought into the store and uses to carry purchased items from the store; on paper bags; on any bag if the customer requests that plastic carryout bags not be used; any compostable plastic carryout bag provided to the customer by a store; or on any reusable bag the customer uses to carry purchased items out of the store."

Smart shoppers save money coming and going and the trees look nicer.

Posted by Frugal Fannie February 18, 09 04:58 PM

I live in W Bridgewater & would not mind seeing a fee for plastic bags. I often hear people asking to double bag or put paper in plastic at the supermarket. What a waste!

Posted by Momof3 February 18, 09 05:00 PM

Yes, this is excellent for our economy. Stop producing plastic or paper bags, which are made here in the USA, and which supply American jobs, and encourage everybody to buy cloth bags made in China! And then start complaining that the states are losing income tax revenue when all the suppliers and shippers of paper and plastic bags lose their jobs.

Posted by Barbara February 18, 09 05:06 PM

Gee, whaddaya know, another way to tax people. I guess "It's for the Environment" will be replacing "It's for the Children" in the politicos lexicon.

And, by-the-way, I reuse those bags for a number of things. Among them, cleaning my cats litter box. There is no way I am going to go out and buy bags for that. Now if one of those politicos wants to clean the litter box for me......

Posted by guywbr February 18, 09 05:41 PM

i literally re-use every plastic bag i get: Cleaning the cat box, Bathroom trash bags, car trash bags, bringing food to/from work. It's unfortunate to hear that people just toss these things away.

Posted by dan February 18, 09 05:49 PM

Barbara is correct! I make plastic bags for a living. And it's a good job. There are thousands of excellent manufacturing jobs (and it's environmentally friendly to produce plastic) in the U.S. Plastic bags are 100% recyclable and it cost much less to recycle plastic than paper. Don't penalize thousands of good paying American jobs because people litter. If plastic bags cause litter, then I suppose a pencil causes misspelled words! Get to the root of the problem! It's not the bags, it's the people! Work on litter and recycling and everyone wins.

Posted by Patrick February 19, 09 11:55 AM

Am I missing something, I checked the bags from the Stop and Shop Store and they have that little "2" on it in a triangle. I looked into it and it said that all those bags are 100% recycleble? Why is this such a big issue? Its not like these bags are toxic waste or depleted nuclear radio active material. Smells like a rat once again playing fear monger with the media. ARE YOU ALL SUCH SHEEP AND LEMMINGS TO GO ALONG WITH SUCH LIES! Oh yeah, i checked the cloth bags, and you can recycle them once they are not usable. And to answer your question. NO cloth bags dont last forever. I bet the company that makes the clost b bags arebehinde this.

Posted by Lemming1 February 22, 09 03:30 PM

It always seemed like a no brainer to me! Especially since there is nothing to experiment with. Indeed the tax has been used in Europe for decades with the result that now nobody over there dreams of asking for any more bags than needed. If you really have another use for the extra bag it should be worth paying the additional small price or you may find out that your usage was not worth the waste after all. Now, if your job depends on making more waste that is not strictly necessary for society we should find you something better to do. It is nonsense to produce more plastic just to keep someone employed. Would you suggest we use even more resource for sake of employing extra people? Should we have people urinating on sidewalks so that we can employ someone to clean after? Perhaps those persons could use their talent and time producing something more valuable to society.

Posted by Mauro February 24, 09 02:45 PM