The measure, which takes effect on January 1, 2010 and is the first such initiative in the United States, seeks to make consumers bear the brunt of clean up costs for the bags which currently are dispensed for free with a customer's purchases.
Plastic bags, while popular with shoppers, often end up clinging to tree branches, tangled in power lines, polluting rivers and clogging up storm drains. "I signed this law in July to cut down on the disposable bags that foul our waterways," said Mayor Adrian Fenty in a statement last month, saying that one particularly urban waterway, the city's Anacostia River, has been particularly befouled by the plastic shopping bags.
"Our research shows that plastic bags are a major component of the trash in the Anacostia River," said Maureen McGowan, interim director of the city's environment department. "By taking disposable bags out of production and out of the waste stream, everyone who goes to the store can help keep the waters clean," McGowan said. And Fenty noted that part of the money collected will be spent toward cleanup of the Anacostia.