5-Cent Tax On Disposable Plastic Bags Under Consideration For Fairfax City Retailers

FAIRFAX CITY, VA — Fairfax City residents may soon have to pay a 5-cent tax on every disposable plastic bag they are provided when buying groceries or other merchandise at city stores. City Council members discussed the proposal during a work session Tuesday night.

Virginia Code authorizes the city to impose a $0.05 tax on disposable plastic bags, according to the city staff presentation. The state Tax Administrator is also authorized to collect and enforce the tax in the same way it does the retail sales tax. Localities also must submit the tax ordinance three months before it goes into effect.

"The goal of the plastic bag tax is to change consumer behavior," said Stefanie Kupta, the city's sustainability coordinator, in her presentation to the council. "So we want them to transition from using disposable plastic bags to sturdy, durable, reusable bags."

The following plastic bags are exempt from the proposed ordinance:

• Durable plastic bags meant for reuse (at least 4 mils)
• Plastic bags only used to wrap, contain or package
• Plastic bags use for dry cleaning or prescription drugs
• Plastic bags sold in packages for garbage, pet waste, leave disposal, etc.

Kupta explained that pollution from plastic bags is harmful to the environment and poses a health risk to humans and animals.

"In addition to spoiling our scenic, natural environment with litter and pollution, plastic bags contain harmful chemicals and they never truly decompose," she said. "Instead, they break down into smaller pieces called 'micro plastics,' which are released into the environment and consumed by humans and animals through our food and water sources."

The proposed plastic bag tax would help reduce this problem by reducing the number of bags that end up in the city's streets, streams, and stormwater system, Kupta said. It would also produce revenue the city could use for environmental cleanup and education.

Virginia has issued its final guidelines for localities on the implementation of a plastic bag tax ordinance. The public comment period on these guidelines is open until Oct. 27, with the Oct. 28 being the planned effective date. Kupta told the council the state doesn't anticipate the guidelines changing.

In past legislative packages submitted to the Virginia General Assembly, the City Council has voiced its support for legislation that would assist in regulating and decreasing the distribution of disposable plastic bags in the city.

To gauge the impact of the tax, the Northern Virginia Regional Commission surveyed local regulatory bodies about it in May. The city also mailed letters to 34 businesses, making them aware of the survey and encouraging them to participate. The businesses included 14 supermarkets/grocery stories, eight convenience store, six pharmacies, and six gas stations with operating convenience stores.

"The main feedback that we received from retailers included concerns that residents would not want to pay the tax and they also requested they would like to obtain outreach materials, such as graphics and signs that they could use in their stores," Kupta said.

Four municipalities in Virginia have already adopted plastic bag tax ordinances, which would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2022. Thy are the cities of Roanoke and Alexandria, and Arlington and Fairfax counties.

If the city council decides to adopt the ordinance, city staff would need additional personnel and resources to implement it. City staff also recommended the hiring of consultant to help with the adoption and implementation of the ordinance, as well as a temporary staff member, possibly an environmental program specialist.

After the staff presentation was over, the council provided input and asked questions.

Councilmember Joseph Harmon expressed concerns about the exempted bags, saying they could be just as damaging to the environment as those targeted by the ordinance. He acknowledged that it was unfortunate the city was limited in its ability to change what the state legislation allowed.

"We can only do what we're allowed to do being in a Dillon Rule state," Harmon said, adding that many other jurisdictions were allowed to do more. He questioned whether the ordinance was going to be particularly helpful, especially since it would require more work and expense to implement and oversee.

When the ordinance takes effect, the merchants would keep 2 of the 5 cents collected, leaving the city 3 cents per bag to pay for implementation and enforcement of the new tax, Harmon said.

"Once you take the administrative costs into consideration and the money that's being kept by the merchants, I'm not sure really how much money is going to be making it over to its spoken purpose," he said.

Harmon asked staff to investigate other places that have enacted a 5-cent plastic bag tax to see how much of the money collected ended up going to programs the tax was designed to support.

Councilmember Sang Yi questioned whether replacing plastic bags with paper bags had less impact on the environment, since paper bags would need more energy and water to produce.

"This was a key element of our legislative package and our request to the General Assembly consistently for several years running," Mayor David Meyer said, in wrapping up the work session. "What we got back from the General Assembly last session was imperfect. We're not the only ones that got something imperfect. Every jurisdiction in the Commonwealth did."

However, Meyer acknowledged that several jurisdictions — some like Fairfax County with large populations — did decide to adopt the ordinance in spite of its imperfections.

"This is not in anyway to discount all of the legitimate and straightforward questions that all of you asked this evening," he said. "They're good questions. The staff will make a good faith effort to investigate those further and try to give us some more information."

Since previous city councils and residents have expressed their desire for adopting a plastic bag tax, Meyer asked staff to reflect on the council's questions and return within 90 days with additional information for the council to consider.