Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Four Montgomery County Council members agreed that the one-year-old tax was not appropriate for non-food businesses.
A sweeping measure that aimed to reduce plastic bag consumption and litter in Montgomery County may see its days numbered, at least in the current iteration. County council members Roger Berliner (D-Bethesda), Craig Rice (D-Germantown) and Nancy Floreen (D-At Large) proposed Tuesday to limit the scope of the county's 5-cent bag tax to apply only to food stores, not retail businesses or take-out restaurants. Councilman George Leventhal (D-At Large) decided to co-sponsor the bill during the council meeting. "There are things we need to clean up with this bill," Rice said, noting that he has heard the tax was challenging for clothing retailers. Since the bill went into effect last January, the county has raked in more than $2 million in …
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Shoppers at Safeway in King Farm grabbed complimentary bags on Day 3 of the 'bag tax.'
Volunteers distributed complimentary reusable bags to shoppers at grocery stores around Montgomery County on Tuesday, the third day of the county's new 5-cent bag fee. At the Safeway in Rockville's King Farm neighborhood, Samuel Bland, sales and accounts manager for Barwood Taxi Service, and Laurie Jenkins, supervisor of outdoor environmental education with Montgomery County Public Schools, handed out reusable bags to shoppers. Most showed gratitude and enthusiasm for the free bags, if not for the 5-cent per bag fee, which began appearing as an add-on to shopping receipts on New Year's Day. "Some say 'We're going to get this repealed,'" Bland said. "Others say 'This is great. We won't have to see bags in trees.'" A 2008-2009 study found …
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Under a new Montgomery County law, paper or plastic bags from retailers cost customers five cents.
Dozens of shoppers popping into Safeway in Hillandale got more than the bargains they were looking for, finding themselves being greeted by Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett handing out reusable grocery bags. Leggett visited the store Tuesday morning to give away hundreds of such bags to help customers mitigate a new cost for shoppers -- paying a nickel for each paper or plastic grocery bag under the county’s bag tax, which took effect Jan. 1. “We're making a very strong effort in the next few days to make sure we get the word out, to make sure people understand the law,” Leggett said. The county executive introduced the bill last spring and it passed the County Council in May 2011 with just one opposing vote. (Councilmember Nancy …
Monday, January 2, 2012
Check out our calendar for more of the day's events.
Good morning, Potomac! It’s Monday morning, a new week, a new year and time to get started with today’s “5 Things.” Among our offerings: weather, some interesting tidbits and a few quick notes. 1. This week we can expect skies to stay sunny through out the day, with some cloud cover coming in during the evenings. Today will be party sunny with a high of 41, according to the National Weather Service. Tonight will be cloudy with lows dropping to 22. The week will start off cool, but temperatures will gradually rise to a high of 55 on Saturday. 2. Along with a new year, Jan. 1 also brought the first day of the new Montgomery County bag tax. Paper and plastic bags will now cost shoppers $0.05 per bag at grocery stores and other retailers. The …
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Shoppers can pick up free reusable bags at various locations on Tuesday, starting at noon.
Paper or plastic: If you want a bag at the grocery store, prepare to now pay the price. With Montgomery County’s new bag law beginning today, shoppers must now pay 5 cents for each non-reusable bag. Of that five cents, the retail establishment keeps one cent per bag for administrative costs. To ease the transition, the county is distributing a limited number of reusable bags (donated by businesses) at the following locations on Tuesday, starting at noon: • Safeway, King Farm, 403 Redland Boulevard, Rockville • The Little Bitts Shop, 11244 Triangle Lane, Wheaton • Bethesda, corner of Woodmont and Bethesda avenues, near the fountain • Walmart, 20910 Frederick Road, Germantown Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett wil distribute bags at…
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Beginning Jan. 1, county shoppers will be charged five cents for each plastic or paper carryout bag.
County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) kicked off a public education campaign in Bethesda Wednesday ahead of a new bag law that will go into effect next year. Beginning Jan. 1, shoppers will be charged five cents for every paper or plastic carryout bag they take home with their purchase. At a Wednesday press conference at the Westfield Montgomery Mall, Leggett encouraged shoppers to bring their own re-usable bags on shopping trips to save money and benefit the environment. “We are here today to start spreading the word that there is an easy alternative to paying five cents a bag when shopping. Just bring your own bags,” Leggett said, according to a county press release. Plastic bags are among the top four items found in county streams and …
Sunday, October 16, 2011
A look at the top news from Oct. 10 through Oct 16.
As we end one week and start another, it’s time for Patch’s week in review. Beginning the week, on Monday we posted an update regarding the new Purple line that got a lot of people talking. The Federal Transit Administration has given the Purple Line project approval to enter the preliminary engineering phase, which clears the way for construction on the light rail to begin as early as 2015. Nearly 500 Patch users responded to our poll about if the plans should proceed or not, and 79 percent answered “no, not under any circumstances.” Have you voted? We want to know what you think! People still have the bag tax on their minds. On Tuesday, we posted a reader round up with observations of what our Patch users have to say about the bag tax, …
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Patch readers respond to last week's poll and post regarding the Montgomery County bag tax.
The Montgomery County bag tax is less than eco-chic, according to our readers. Of the 79 users who responded to our extraordinarily unscientific poll, 53 felt the tax was more of an eco-fail. “I don't mind paying taxes for the services we receive, but this nuisance tax should be repealed,” Woodside Park Bob posted in the comments of our story “County Schedules Webinars Dedicated To Bag Law.” Maryland blogs and online forums have popped up encouraging residents to contact the county and request a repeal. A Facebook page dedicated to killing bag taxes nationwide has made multiple posts about the Montgomery County tax, with many commenters calling for a repeal of the vote. However, Montgomery County residents have not quite reached the stage…
Friday, October 7, 2011
Informational sessions have been scheduled through January to explain the new county bag law to residents and retailers.
To help residents and retailers understand the new carryout bag law, effective Jan. 1, 2012, Montgomery County has launched a new website with scheduled information sessions. Under Montgomery County's carryout bag law, effective Jan. 1, 2012, all retail establishments in the county that provide customers a paper or plastic bag for purchases are required to charge 5 cents per bag. Affected retail establishments include "all stores, permanent booths, service stations, grocery stores, department stores and other sellers," according to the Montgomery County website. Exemptions from the bag law include: • Bags used to hold prescription drugs • "Initial use" bags, such as garbage bags, dry cleaning bags or newspaper bags • Bags provided by an …
Jeff Grolig
9:15 am on Friday, January 6, 2012
Very well said. Here in Potomac the majority of our customers were really caught off guard by this ridiculous tax. Most people are electing to skip the bag and just carry their purchase out. Many people are extremely angry about this and I think Ike Legget and his buddies are going to be disappointed with the unexpected shortfall in revenue they were obviously hoping to gain! What a joke. more ›