Plastic Bag Fee Full of Controversy
Councilman Charlie Brown: I’ve never seen letters like this. I can assure you people are very, very upset about this. The ordinance is unwarranted and unwanted.
By the narrowest margin in recent memory, the Denver City Council is sharply divided on the issue of charging grocery shoppers 5-cents for bags which are not reusable.
Councilman Charlie Brown says the proposal has generated more comment than retail marijuana. Councilman Paul Lopez says it’s a “world class” standard. Councilwoman Jeanne Faatz says she’s not sure the matter “requires government intervention.’ Councilman Chris Herndon is concerned shoppers may go outside Denver, and Councilman Albus Brooks thinks the proposal should be part of a more comprehensive study of waste management. Even Mayor Michael B. Hancock has expressed strong dissatisfaction over the measure.
The controversy surrounds Councilwoman Debbie Ortega’s measure to require shoppers to pay 5-cents at the cash register for every non-reusable plastic or paper bag at grocery stores. Shoppers could avoid the fee by using their own bags.
Ortega says she has spent over a year crafting the legislation in an effort to reduce the number of bags which adversely impact the environment. She says she wants to encourage shoppers to rely on reusable bags, and 3-cents of the fee would go to the city to fund educational efforts.
A non-scientific survey in the parking lot of a grocery store where many Park Hill residents shop shows a similar split opinion. Fifty percent of those surveyed found the proposal acceptable, while 40 percent were opposed, and 10 percent said they had no opinion or didn’t care. Opponents called the plan “ridiculous” and “stupid.”
The major grocery stores and the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) have not taken a public stance. UFCW represents workers at King Soopers, Safeway and Albertson’s. Retail trade associations have expressed moderate opposition, suggesting that collecting the fee would be complicated. Ardent environmentalists support the proposal, while even some people who don’t like plastic bags have conflicting views on government involvement.
“I’ve never seen letters like this,” comments Brown. “I can assure you people are very, very upset about this. The ordinance is unwarranted and unwanted.” Brown represents District 6 in south-central Denver.
Brown thinks the public should vote on the proposal. “I do believe this is a tax, and this is an attempt to avoid TABOR (Taxpayer Bill of Rights) laws. I am willing 100 percent to put it on the ballot.” During a Council committee meeting on the measure, an assistant city attorney revealed that the measure was carefully drafted in “executive session” to avoid a potential challenge as a tax on which TABOR would require a vote.
District 2 Councilwoman Faatz says 68 percent of her constituents in southwest Denver oppose the bag fee. She agrees with Brown’s view that the charge is “more like a tax than a fee.” Faatz opposes “government bureaucracy” to administer the ordinance.
“We know bags are impacting the waste system, but I have to ask if this is the best way forward,” says Albus Brooks, whose District 8 includes Park Hill. “Other cities of similar size have a comprehensive waste management plan, and we need a better citywide study.”
Stapleton-area Councilman Chris Herndon of District 11 says “we have to protect Denver businesses.” According to Herndon, people have told him they will go outside of Denver to shop to avoid the bag fee. Suggesting a more voluntary approach with businesses and shoppers, Herndon says “let’s try first the solutions that don’t have financial impact on consumers.”
As written, the ordinance would apply to fee to “disposable” bags at businesses “with retail space greater than 1500 square feet…which receives more than 2% of its revenue” from food products. “Food store” does not include “temporary vending establishments” such as farmer’s markets.
The ordinance defines “reusable bag” as one “manufactured to withstand repeated uses…made from material that can be cleaned…is at least 2.25 mil thick if made from plastic…has a minimum lifetime of 75 uses…and has the capability of carrying a minimum of 18 pounds.”
The heavier plastic bags provided for customers at Spinelli’s Market in Park Hill do (do not) qualify as reusable, since they are XX mils thick. Many Spinelli’s customers report very long term reuse of the bags.
Jack Patterson of Councilwoman Ortega’s office says the fee would apply to any disposable shopping bag supplied by an employee of the store. He says this would not prevent consumers from setting up their own bag provisioning or exchange process.
Patterson says most of the council offices are receiving “five or six cranky calls per day” about the bag fee. He says if consumers used their own bags to the extent that city revenue wasn’t as high as expected to fund educational efforts, “the ordinance would have accomplished it’s goal” or encouraging bag re-use.
Initial estimates are that the city could derive as much as $1.6 million in revenue from the bag fee, with the amount expected to diminish with increasing reusable bags. Funds would be administered by the Department of Environmental Health, a division of the Mayor’s office.
Part of the revenue would be used to provide reusable bags to those who could not afford them. Councilman Paul Lopez complains that talk of providing reusable bags inaccurately and unfairly stigmatizes economically underprivileged shoppers. He says those who can’t afford reusable bags still care as much as anyone about environmental improvement.
According to the ordinance, “Denver consumers use approximately 130 million disposable bags from food stores each year.” Councilman Brown disputes that contention, saying that the mayoral Sustainability Office concluded the bag fee would “at best make only a miniscule contribution toward the goal of reducing landfill waste.”
Approximately 150 jurisdictions nationwide have some sort of bag fees, taxes, or outright bans. These jurisdictions include Austin, Portland, Boulder, Seattle, and the state of Hawai’i. In Montgomery County, Maryland, the bag charge is labeled as a tax.
Dave Felice can be reached at gelato321@aol.com.