Montgomery County to ban plastic carryout bags

In an effort to keep the planet cleaner and humans healthier, Montgomery County Council is a vote away from permanently banning plastic bags and raising the tax on paper bags, as it urges residents to reuse and bring their own bags as they go shopping. 

The bill, which the Montgomery County Council is considering and expected to vote on early next year, also aims to split the money raised from the ten-cent tax on paper bags. Five cents will go to the water quality protection charge fund, while the other five will go to the retailer. 

Kate Stewart, the lead sponsor of the bill, tagged Bring Your Own Bag, and vice president of the council, said the aim is to build a cleaner future for the county. 

Impact of Plastic Bag Law on Business Operations 

Judy Yu, co-manager of Sichuan Jin River, a Chinese restaurant in Rockville, said it’s hard to predict how customers will react to the increase in the carryout bag tax even though it is good for the environment.  

“You don’t lose the business because of the carryout bag law. But some of the customers were not happy with the bag charge, but they would pay for it anyway,” she said. 

“They would complain about it, and some would just say, “I’m gonna bring my own bag.” But sometimes it’s just hard for us,” Yu said. 

Another business manager in the area, Gorica Baquedeno of Bon Chon, said it’s all about following the law, as they currently charge bag fees anyway. 

“Because right now, we are charging five cents for the bags, and it’s always good to do something for the environment. So, if it means we have to change the current bag fee, we need to do that; we need to follow the law,” she said. 

“To be honest, I think the customers will like the new law because some of them don’t already ask for bags, they bring their own bags and that is not going to impact the business in any way,” Baquedeno said. 

Impact on customers 

Farmin Shahabuddin, a resident of the county, said the fee increase was long overdue. 

“As a student of Public Health, I did my undergrad in public health and now doing my master’s in public health. I have seen how the plastics we are using are affecting the environment in a harmful manner especially how all the plastics are accumulating in the oceans,” she said. 

“If we stop using less plastic, then it will help the environment. 10 cents for paper bags is a small price to pay for a better future, I feel, at least for a bit for a better future generation. So I think 10 cents should be okay,” Shahabuddin said. 

Elliot Essman of Gaithersburg said he agrees with the new law.  

“I think it’s a good idea because I know plastic bags cause a lot of pollution when people throw them out. Personally, I already always take my backpack when I go grocery shopping and it works great for me,” he said.  

“If people don’t like the charge, I think they’ll get used to it eventually because the money is going back into environmental protection in Montgomery County, so I’m in full support of it,” Essman said. 

Another resident of Montgomery County, Diana Davidson, said she’s happy that you don’t have to pay ten cents if you can bring your own bag. 

“I think for lower-income individuals to bring their own bag and not be forced to pay this bag tax is just great,” Davidson said. 

The Bill, which will allocate five cents from every bag charged to the Water Quality Protection charge fund, also has exceptions for recipients of food assistance programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Women, Infants, and Children Program (WIC).  

Will Jawando, who cosponsored the bill alongside Councilmembers Laurie-Anne Sayles, Evan Glass, Natali Fani-González, and Sidney Katz, told The Wash that the bill was an improvement of legislation already in place. 

“There was a report that our Office of Inspector General did, which kind of does reports to see if things were working appropriately on our current law, and it found out that there were some things not working. Like a lot of retailers were not charging the fee, and it wasn’t going to its intended purpose,” he said. 

“So, this is a goal, to kind of correct some of the bills, but also make it more effective. We were losing somewhere between 200,000 to $8 million a year based on non-compliance,” Jawando said.