Philly’s plastic bag ban needs revising to add fees and eliminate loopholes | Opinion
City Council: Amend Mayor Kenney’s plastic bag ban to add a small fee for bags and delete language that appears to allow thicker — and more polluting — plastic bags.
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You would be forgiven for forgetting that Philadelphia has a ban on plastic bags. Recently, a survey of 50 businesses found that more than half continue to provide customers with now-illegal bags. What’s more, many are offering thicker plastic bags, claiming they are reusable. However, many people still throw away the thicker bags, which leads to even more plastic litter.
» READ MORE: Most businesses aren’t following Philly’s new plastic bag ban yet, survey says
On Oct. 28, Councilmember Mark Squilla introduced Bill No. 210868 to amend Mayor Jim Kenney’s plastic bag ban, fulfilling a promise to Philadelphia’s environmental and community advocates. As written, the current bill bans all single-use bags made from plastic that is less than 2.25 mils thick or made via a process known as blown-film extrusion, which includes the thicker bags still distributed by some merchants.
The amendment eliminates the 2.25 mils thickness language within the current legislation, making it clear that bags of any thickness are not allowed if they were created through a blown-film extrusion. It also states that if businesses don’t cut back on all single-use bags (paper and plastic) by 80%, according to a required bag use study, the city will begin imposing a $0.15 fee on single-use bags.
A bag fee is essential to the success of the legislation, serving as an effective deterrent in the customer’s choice to select single-use bags of any kind. In the absence of a fee, merchants will cover the expense of “free” single-use bags by spreading it across the cost of all goods, which could significantly raise consumer costs. The absence of a fee is truly regressive and imposes a disproportionate impact on the poor.
“A bag fee is essential to the success of the legislation, serving as an effective deterrent in the customer’s choice to select single-use bags of any kind.”
Fees work. For instance, after Chicago added a $0.07 tax on every disposable plastic and paper bag, the use of disposable bags dropped dramatically.
Pittsburgh is poised in the coming weeks to pass its own policy similar to what we’re urging through Councilmember Squilla’s amendment — a ban on single-use plastic bags, and a small fee for recycled paper bags. If it is the right approach for them, shouldn’t it be the right approach for us?
I’m urging City Council to pass the amendment that imposes a $0.15 fee for single-use bags and adds language that eliminates any confusion about the use of these thicker plastic bags, many of which are not actually “reusable.”
My organization, Clean Water Action, is also recommending that the city include several additional provisions in the amendment to the plastic bag ban.
Define “reusable bags.” A thick plastic bag should not count as a “reusable” bag. For instance, the law can define a reusable bag as one with “stitched handles made primarily of cloth or other woven or nonwoven textile with a minimum lifetime capability of being cleaned and disinfected and used least 125 times.”
Provide for consumer education and distribute reusable bags to people who may struggle to afford them.
Publish and distribute enforcement regulations to licensed retail businesses in Philadelphia.
We encourage the citizens of Philadelphia to contact their City Council representatives and encourage them to include our additions and vote yes on Bill No. 210868.
Other cities have successfully reduced their reliance on single-use bags. We can, too.
Maurice M. Sampson II is the Eastern Pennsylvania director of the Clean Water Action/Fund.