Reducing Plastic Bags

Councilman Bill Henry, District 4, sat in Greg's Bagels in Belvedere Square tapping at his laptop helping register the eatery with the city's Plastic Bag Reduction Program.

A law requiring stores to participate in the program, or be prohibited from providing customers with plastic bags, went into effect this month after being delayed for three months because of budget constraints.   

The program requires stores to take measures; such as placing a sign at the register notifying customers plastic bags will only be provided on demand, to reduce the amount of bags literally floating around Baltimore's streets.

Henry admits placing signs asking customers to return bags or paying for a waste hauler to pick up collected bags from a return bin may be more of a nuisance to smaller businesses compared to larger retailers, but he maintains it's not too difficult to comply with the law.

"These things aren't hard to do if you care," Henry said. 

The city won't be actively patrolling businesses to verify that they're complying with the program. Reporting businesses in violation will largely be left to neighbors to report problem establishments to 311, Henry said.  

If neighbors report a violation to 311 then a city employee will inspect the store and assess whether they are in compliance. Stores that are cited for noncompliance could face a fine as high as $1,000.

"Neighborhoods know which are the good businesses and which are the bad businesses," Henry said.  

However if the program is found to be ineffective the council will revisit implementing legislation with more teeth, Henry said.

Previously Henry had submitted legislation proposing stores be required to charge customers 25 cents per plastic bag. Councilman James Kraft, District 1, has also submitted and advocated for legislation banning plastic bags in Baltimore.

The voluntary compliance program is the result of compromise between retailers associations and the council. The program requires stores to maintain data on the amount of plastic bags they distribute. 

The directors of the Office of Sustainability and the Department of Public Works are required to provide periodic updates on the program to the mayor and city council using figures reported by stores enrolled in the program and assessments of the volume of plastic bags in the city's waste stream.

"If in a year from now we don't see a significant drop then it's just not working," Henry said.

Patrick Donoho, president of the Maryland Retailers Association, said he hasn't heard complaints about the program from his members.

"We provided notice to [our members] and from the feedback I've got most everybody is compliant," Donoho said.

However he was skeptical about how successful the program will be in reducing the amount of bags on city streets because he doubted it would change the behavior of people that litter.

"How much behavior is changed we'll see, but it's a good start," he said.