DC has had a plastic bag fee for about two and a half years now. Before this was implemented, opponents were predicting it would lead to a huge exodus of jobs, residents would move to Virginia because they have to pay five cents for a plastic bag or even worse, people would spontaneously start speaking French. Suffice to say, none of these fears have been realized. The five cent plastic bag fee, on the other hand, resulted in a significant reduction in the number of bags:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/...0_but_far.html .
"In its first assessment of how the new law is working, the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue estimates that city food and grocery establishments issued about
3.3 million bags in January, which suggests a remarkable decrease. Prior to the bag tax taking effect Jan 1, the Office of the Chief Financial Officer had
estimated that about 22.5 million bags were being issued per month in 2009..."
In the two and a half years since the bag fee was implemented, I think I have paid maybe fifty cents or one dollar total for all of the plastic bags I've used. It is really not difficult to: 1) bring reusable bags, 2) put a couple of items in a messanger bag or backpack, 3) carry one or two items. If none of those seem to work, I don't mind paying a big nickel for a plastic bag, with the revenue going (hopefully) to clean up the Anacostia river.
There are, what, more than seven billion people on this planet of ours. It is well past time that we stop using something like a shopping bag only once and then throw it out.