| | | Despite preparation, some befuddled by bag fee | | January 13, 2010 |  | | | Staff Writer | | At supermarkets around the District, the new bag fee is becoming routine. Observers say most customers understand that they must bring their own reusable bag, now widely distributed, or pay 5 cents for a recyclable plastic or paper one.
But the breadth of the law, which took effect Jan. 1, has taken some merchants and customers by surprise. The bag fee covers not only supermarkets and drugstores, but also any establishment that sells even one type of food. And that means bookstores, department stores and electronics stores like Best Buy are covered if they sell, say, candy in the checkout line — even if the bag is only for a book or sweater.
To compound the confusion, provisions of the law governing restaurants and takeout joints are even more complicated. Sit-down restaurants don't have to charge for a paper "doggie bag," but they do for a plastic one — unless the plastic is for a half-drunk bottle of wine. Carryouts without seating have to charge a nickel for either plastic or paper bags.
The District Department of the Environment is charged with administering the law, which is designed to reduce waste, encourage recycling and generate funds to clean up the Anacostia River.
"This isn't about food, it's about getting plastic and paper out of the environment," said Mary Lynn Wilhere, business outreach coordinator for the department. Wilhere readily acknowledges that implementation, in its early stages, has caused some confusion.
Ward 6 D.C. Council member Tommy Wells, chief sponsor of the bag fee, said city environment and tax offices "are doing a great job with education. They just should have started earlier."
Wells acknowledges some early confusion, but said that's understandable less than two weeks into implementation. He said initial reports have been encouraging.
After two days, about half the customers at a Harris Teeter on Capitol Hill were bringing in reusable bags, according to Wells. He shopped at the same store last weekend, and "it was the exception that people needed disposable bags," he said.
Wells agrees that there's a need for more education, more signs and more reusable bags. "But 11 days in, I'm ecstatic," he said.
His office has fielded a few complaints from city residents who vow they will shop in Virginia from now on. "We talk to them, say, 'So you're going to drive to Virginia, spend money on gas, pay higher taxes — rather than pay 5 cents here?" said Wells' chief of staff, Charles Allen.
Under D.C. law, a store that sells any kind of food or candy is supposed to have a "food endorsement" on its business license, making it subject to the law. So a broad range of stores where food is secondary must charge for disposable bags, report the fees and send the money to the city Office of Tax and Revenue.
Wilhere said all businesses affected by the new law got two letters, one from the tax office, another from the Environment Department, explaining provisions and supplying cash register decals and other signage. But she agrees not everyone's gotten the word yet.
"We didn't get any money to do education or advertising" when the law was passed last summer, Wilhere said, and the department won't get any funds for an education campaign until revenue from the bag fee starts coming in this March. "We are going to do advertising, but we're waiting for funds."
At Politics and Prose last weekend, a cashier insisted that the popular bookstore wasn't subject to the bag fee, although it sells tins of Obama mints at the main book counter and coffee and food in a cafe downstairs.
On Monday, Wilhere checked again and said the bookstore has decided to "pull the mints and drop their food endorsement," so it won't have to charge for bags. The cafe downstairs is under separate ownership and must comply with the law, she said.
Officials say they think the Macy's at Metro Center may follow a similar route. That store sells only one food item — Godiva chocolates — and may simply give up its food endorsement and stop selling chocolate so it won't have to charge for bags for clothing and other items. Macy's officials did not respond to requests for comment.
And then there's the restaurant vs. takeout provision. Wilhere said she's gotten calls from confused proprietors. "That part of the law is complicated. Even after one-on-one conversations, they don't get it," she said.
Andrew Kline, counsel to the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington, said the organization won some changes to the original bill, both to lessen the administrative burden and to avoid upsetting patrons.
So restaurants with seating can use paper bags to wrap up uneaten food without charging a fee, though they must still charge for plastic bags. The new law was also amended to allow diners to take home half-used bottles of wine in clear plastic bags without coughing up a nickel.
But takeouts, without seating, must charge the fee. The rationale: "They put a lot more bags into circulation. That's most of their business," Kline said. "But sit-down restaurants are not large users of disposable bags, and the administrative burden of collecting the tax and reporting is worse than the ill effect."
"Can you imagine dining at Citronelle?" Kline asked. "You paid your check, now we have to ask you for a nickel" to take home the wine.
As to education, Kline said, "I think the city could have done a better job."
But others say the law is already working well — so well that lawmakers in Maryland and Virginia have already been talking about copying the District and imposing similar bag fees. "We were waiting for a tidal wave of angry calls, which didn't happen," Wilhere said.
The bag fee has also reignited talk about trying again to require a deposit on bottles and cans, which also litter city streets and waterways.
A so-called "bottle bill" went down to defeat in a 1987 referendum, with major soda companies and bottle manufacturers fueling the opposition. Officials seem reluctant to revisit the measure.
But as one resident opined on the Cleveland Park listserv, it's really not much trouble to return empty bottles to the store to get a nickel back. And, she suggested, people might be more apt to remember to bring their reusable bags to the supermarket "if we use them to return the empties." | | | | | Log in to comment on this article |
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