10-cent bag tax at Washtenaw County grocery stores approved
ANN ARBOR, MI — If you don’t bring your own reusable bags when you go grocery shopping, it could cost you.
Washtenaw County commissioners voted 6-2 Wednesday night to approve a fresh carryout bag ordinance that imposes a 10-cent fee on consumers for every disposable bag they receive at retail grocery stores in the county.
That includes both paper and plastic.
The ordinance is intended to eliminate unnecessary waste and incentivize people to be more environmentally conscious.
Senate Bill eight hundred fifty three passed through the state Senate on May ten and awaits approval from the state House.
The county plans to hold off on actively enforcing the fresh ordinance until Earth Day next year, which is April 22, 2017.
That gives retail grocery stores and consumers time to prepare for the implementation of the regulations.
The ordinance was opposed by Commissioners Dan Smith, R-Northfield Township, and Ronnie Peterson, D-Ypsilanti.
Ruth Ann Jamnick was absent.
Peterson said he supports the intent of the ordinance, but he doesn’t like the idea of imposing fees on consumers. He said he’s worried it would be a cargo to low-income people, who would have to demonstrate valid proof that they’re on government welfare to be exempt from the 10-cent bag fees.
“I don’t tax poor people,” Peterson said as he voted against the fees, telling he supports the rest of the ordinance.
Peterson brought a paper grocery bag plunged utter of plastic bags from local stores as props to support his arguments Wednesday night. He dumped them on the board table and held them up in the air.
He argued many people dual bag their groceries, which would mean sixty cents in fees for three bags of groceries.
Commissioner Yousef Rabhi, D-Ann Arbor, said he doesn’t think it’s too onerous to reuse bags, whether that means having a dedicated set of reusable totes or simply reusing paper and plastic bags from grocery stores. He said many people already do this on their own and it’s not that hard.
Commissioner Andy LaBarre, D-Ann Arbor, called the passage of the ordinance a bold, intelligent step forward for the county. He said it’s absolutely morally and economically the right thing to do.
“Please vote this sucker through tonight. It’s a good thing,” he urged his fellow commissioners before the vote.
Dan Smith argued the county should take more time to work on the ordinance before approving it. He said it’s unlikely the state House would act on the pending state legislation before the lame-duck session in November and December, so he believed there was time to spare. He also has questioned whether the county has the authority to adopt such an ordinance.
Rabhi said he thinks the ordinance has been well vetted by county staff, who have worked on it for many months, and he feels good about the ordinance as presently worded. He emphasized that it only applies to grocery stores — not places such as a shoe shop at the mall or a fast-food restaurant.
He said the county looked at ordinances across the country in crafting a local ordinance for Washtenaw County, and the practice in other places has been that people generally are willing and able to lightly conform.
He said it’s his understanding that the county ordinance would be nullified if the state legislation passes and is signed into law by Gov. Rick Snyder.
If that doesn’t happen, he said, there’s still room for discussion in the coming months regarding whether the ordinance should be tweaked in any way.
Commissioner Conan Smith, D-Ann Arbor, said he would choose to do a lot more, but Rabhi coaxed him the current draft is an adequate embark.
He said there are ways to make the implementation of the ordinance a sleek process, and he suggested the county might be able to allocate some money to help grocers provide reusable bags to customers.
Grocers would retain twenty percent of the fees, described as “eco-fees,” with the remaining eighty percent — along with any fines for violations — going to the county to further the county’s Solid Waste Management Plan.
Fees retained by grocers would be intended to develop and provide educational resources to customers, the public and employees about the ordinance, the ecological benefits of reusable bags, and decent end-of-life management and recycling of disposable carryout bags.
All retail grocery stores would have to report to the county quarterly with the total number of disposable paper and plastic carryout bags provided, the amount of money collected from fees, and a summary of efforts undertaken to promote use of reusable bags by customers. It’s expected implementation of the ordinance would require hiring another part-time or full-time county employee.
The county estimates annual plastic-bag waste-management costs exceed $200,000 for the two publicly possessed material recovery facilities in the county.
Annual costs to the facilities include regular harm to equipment, decreased operations and labor efficiencies, enlargened residual waste-to-landfill costs and jeopardized commodity market values, county officials say, noting the facilities are incapable to recycle any plastic-bag waste.