Seattle Referendum on the 20 Cent Fee on Disposable Plastic

and Paper Shopping Bags

August 18, 2009 Primary Election Ballot

Summary
In July 2008 the Seattle City Council adopted ordinance 122752 requiring grocery stores, drug stores and convenience stores to charge a 20 cent fee for each disposable plastic or paper shopping bag provided to customers.  Stores with annual gross sales of less than one million dollars may retain the total amount collected.  Stores with annual gross sales of one million dollars or more may keep 5 cents of the 20 cents to cover the costs of implementing the fee. 

City revenue generated from the fee will be used to support solid waste prevention and recycling programs.  The purpose of the fee, according to the ordinance, is to create an economic incentive for customers to use reusable shopping bags and to reduce the quantity of disposable bags entering the City's waste stream.  To offset impacts that might be experienced by citizens, the City will make available to the public free-of-charge reusable shopping bags.  The ordinance also creates two new City positions to administer and audit the program.

Shortly after the ordinance was adopted, the American Chemistry Council, a national industry organization, initiated and funded a signature gathering effort to put the ordinance to a referendum of voters.  The referendum asks whether voters wish to affirm the fee.

ARGUMENTS FOR THE MEASURE

The proponents of the measure made the following arguments in support of the measure:

• Plastic bags pollute the land and the sea, breaking down into fragments that enter the food chain, absorb toxic chemicals and harm birds and fish.

• Plastic bags contribute to climate change by using petroleum products and energy in their manufacture and distribution.

• Plastic bags also fill the ocean gyres with trash, block storm drains, gum up recycling equipment and pollute the City’s Cedar Grove composting sites.

• Paper bags are just as bad because the material weighs much more to transport and store, uses forest resources and causes air and water pollution in the production process.

• Many countries have outright bans on plastic bags, including Australia, China, India and Bangladesh.  Ireland imposed a 15 cent fee on plastic bags in 2002 and experienced a 90% reduction in bag use almost immediately.

• Seattle uses some 360 million disposable bags per year. 

• The 20 cent fee, rather than an outright ban, was selected in Seattle to give consumers a choice and to provide an incentive to change behavior.

• While stores and industry groups prefer to promote voluntary recycling of plastic bags, recycling is not a good solution because it ends up costing more than the original production of the bags.

• Certain smaller plastic bags such as those used for produce or newspapers are not covered by the fee and can continue to be used.

ARGUMENTS AGAINST THE MEASURE

Opponents of the measure made the following arguments:

• The bag tax is a solution in search of a problem.  It may be appropriate in places like China or India or even Los Angeles which have had huge plastic bag litter problems, but it is not appropriate in Seattle where there is no such problem.

• While production of bags does consume hydrocarbons and energy, this measure does not take into account hidden costs.  People will be forced to buy and use substitutes for carrying groceries, lining their kitchen garbage bins and all of the other things these bags are used for. 

• No research is available on the overall impact of such substitutions – the effects on the environment and on energy consumption may be worse than the original problem.

• There may be unintended consequences.  For example, it might affect Seattle grocery stores bordering other jurisdictions, where residents can easily choose to shop in nearby “no fee” stores.

• Plastic bags have virtually no impact on ocean pollution or the killing of marine animals.

• Bags represent just 0.3% of the trash in landfills.

• The bag tax is regressive and will hit especially lower income people.

• The tax will collect little revenue but will create a city taxing bureaucracy.  New York City just cancelled plans to impose a bag tax, citing both the recession and the regressive nature of the tax.

• Reusable bags which are touted as the solution can be loaded with bacteria and cause new kinds of problems.

•  The next generation of plastic grocery bags will be bio-degradable.  These bags are already in use in Italy and France.  Innovation will solve the problem.

• The measure arbitrarily picks on one plastic item, the shopping bag, and imposes what is in effect a “sin” tax, and exempts thousands of other products made of plastic.

RECOMMENDATION and RATIONALE

The Municipal League of King County takes no position on the imposition of a fee on disposable shopping bags. 

The League Trustees found that the objectives of the measure were laudable:  to reduce pollution, petroleum and energy use, and to provide incentives to change individual behavior.  However, the net impacts of the measure have not been thoroughly researched and the unintended consequences might be significant.  We urge voters to educate themselves on the arguments on both sides of the measure:

Pro:  Trying to change behavior is a valid role for policy makers and this taxing device will likely have a significant effect on reducing plastic bags and encouraging the use of reusable bags.  This is a step we as a community need to take. 

Con:  This measure is largely aesthetic because people dislike plastic bags.  It is not a well-developed policy solution and it avoids thinking about larger environmental issues.