Do you want to clean up the plastic bags that get snagged in bushes and trees, clog up storm drains and pollute our streams and rivers? Do you want to stop litter which degrades property values and makes our environment less safe and healthy for our children? There's a simple proven solution: reduce the source of litter. Plastic bag litter is a blight in our neighborhoods, and is the most frequently found trash item in our rivers.  It costs the Montgomery County over $3 million to prevent and clean-up litter every year. With revenues from this 5-cent bag fee, the burden of clean-up costs would be shifted from all tax payers to those who choose to buy disposable bags at retail checkout counters. 

In one year after Washington, DC, passed a law requiring retailers to charge 5 cents on carryout bags, plastic bag litter was reduced by over 60 percent. Reducing the number of bags in circulation reduces the amount of litter from plastic bags and helps keep our waterways clean.

Please urge your Council Member to support a nominal 5-cent charge on all carryout bags from retail stores.  Revenues from this charge are dedicated to the Water Quality Protection Charge which pays for stormwater pollution prevention, litter clean up costs, and watershed restoration.  

Opponents are raising rallying cries against what they call a burdensome tax. This measure is designed to change behaviors, not to dig into people's pocket books.  The 5-cent charge can be avoided by simply bringing a bag along when shopping.

Please click the petition button to sign and send a letter to Council Members asking them to support the 5-cent charge on carryout bags to reduce litter pollution in our community.