Baltimore County Council votes against environmental fund financed by paper bag fee
As excerpted from The Baltimore Sun:
A Baltimore County Council bill that would have created an environmental enhancement fund partially financed with money retailers charge for paper bags failed Monday night.
The legislation would have required retailers to give the county a minimum of 2 cents from each 5-cent fee collected from distributing paper or reusable bags. The money collected would have gone to a fund that could have been used to give grants to groups for cleaning waterways or picking up litter.
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The Maryland Retailers Alliance opposed the bill, not because it disliked the concept of an environmental education and enhancement fund, but because it opposed reducing the amount retained by retailers, putting Baltimore County businesses at a disadvantage.
“Maintaining the fee as-is provides transparency for customers because they know what they’re paying for — they’re paying for that bag,” Sarah Price, the alliance’s vice president of communications and government affairs, said at an April work session. “It reduces competition between businesses and it ensures that the mandate is paid for by the people who choose to continue using single-use bags.”
