The Plastic Bag Reduction Act of 2009 will encourage consumers to choose re-usable bags by imposing a five cent tax on single-use carryout bags from 1 January 2010. This would rise to 25cents per bag on 1 January, 2015.
“Our environment is literally choking on plastic bags,” said Moran in a statement in April. “Whole swathes of our oceans have become floating landfills. Ingested marine debris, particularly plastic bags, is killing thousands of birds, turtles, marine mammals, fish, and squid each day. Equally disturbing, as these plastics break down, toxic chemicals are being released into the environment.”
Under the legislation, a “single-use carryout bag” would include a drycleaning bag, take-out food bag, retail bag, membership or wholesaler bag, or service station bag used by a retailer to give to the customer at the point of sale..
Of each 5cents charged to the customer the retailer may apply for a tax credit of 1cent for carrying out a qualified carryout bag recycling programme. 1cent will be transferred to the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Another cent would be made available for state and local rubbish reduction and watershed protection programmes. The remaining 2cents would go towards reducing the national debt.
Both Washington DC and New York City are already considering a 5cent tax fee on paper and plastic bags.
