Grocery industry: All retailers should share new bag fee

Tag : solid / foamed

If Seattle's grocery, drug and convenience stores must soon chargecustomers 20 cents for every plastic or paper bag, the same shouldgo for all retailers here, grocery industry lobbyists told a CityCouncil committee Tuesday.
"If you're going to try to change behavior, everyone should beinvolved," said Holly Chisa of the Northwest Grocery Association, agroup of larger stores.
Still, the stores would prefer to avoid the fee altogether,business groups told the Environment, Energy Management andUtilities committee.
Mayor Greg Nickels proposed the per-bag fee earlier this year. Itwould be imposed Jan. 1.
Nickels also proposed banning polystyrene foam containers, forcingrestaurants and stores to instead find alternative egg cartons,meat trays, plates, "clamshells" and cups by Jan 1.
Starting in mid-2010, the ban would expand to plastic to-go foodcontainers. Instead, stores and restaurants would have usecompostable or recyclable packaging, such as the plasticlikeproducts some businesses now use that are made of sugar cane orother materials.
The environment committee plans to hold a public hearing on thelegislation July 8 at 7 p.m. at City Hall. That committee likelywill vote on the measures in late July or early August, saidCouncilman Richard Conlin, who chairs the panel. After that, theywould head to the full City Council for consideration.
Environmental groups have lauded the proposals.
Scott Otterson, political chairman of the local Sierra Club, toldthe committee that other Washington cities "are looking to Seattleto set an example so their own cities can implement similarlegislation."
But some business organizations and advocates for the poor say it'stoo excessive a tax.
"There's a reason we don't have sales tax on food," said CouncilmanRichard McIver. "Putting a tax on the bag -- or the container I putthe food into to get the food home -- seems oxymoronic."
McIver asked officials who answer to Nickels if the mayor hadconsidered exempting food stamp customers from the fee. The mayordoes not support such a move, said Dick Lilly, an analyst withSeattle Public Utilities. Nickels feels that would create adisincentive for some customers to reduce their waste, Lilly said.In addition, the mayor hopes to provide at least one free reusablea Seattle household, he has said.
Working with city social service agencies, Lilly added: "We expectto have several bags, if not half a dozen bags, in the hands oflow-income families that need it."
(In an interview, McIver said has not yet decided whether he willoppose or support the fee, but that he has concerns about it.)
Councilman Tim Burgess predicted that Seattle consumers wouldquickly adjust to the changes.
"We're going to look back two or three years from now, and it'sgoing to be so routine that we're going to wonder what the squabblewas," Burgess said.
Seattle consumers use 360 million disposable bags each year,according to Seattle Public Utilities. About 73 percent of themcome from grocery, drug and convenience stores.
By honing in those businesses, "this is a good start, in ouropinion," said Tim Croll, solid waste director of Seattle PublicUtilities.
Still, Carolyn Logue, representing a group of independent grocers,urged the committee to come up with a "more cooperative" approach.
"We are willing to look at a very aggressive recycling program,"Logue said. The Washington Food Industry worries its members wouldface the brunt of customer anger, she said. The group also hasconcerns about how the rules would be enforced and tracked."Reusable bags aren't the answer of all of our customers," Loguesaid.
Most stores would be allowed to keep 5 cents of every 20 cent feeto cover administrative costs and taxes. Stores collecting lessthan $1 million in gross revenues each year would be allowed tokeep the entire 20 cents.
Chisa and Logue also urged the council committee to considerexempting from the foam ban stores' use of meat trays. The proposedban already would exclude prepackaged meats. The store lobbyistssaid cost-effective alternatives to foam meat trays are notavailable. More than 20 cities have imposed various bans onpolystyrene foam at restaurants and other business, includingPortland.
Officials with Seattle Public Utilities previously projected thatthe bag fees would generate about $10 million a year. Nickelsproposed using that money to administer the rules and forwaste-reduction efforts.
Conlin has said some of the money should go to garbage ratereductions.
In light of the difference, officials answering to Nickelssuggested during Tuesday's meeting that, for now, the city shouldbank on a more conservative revenue projection: $3 million a year.Should the city see higher revenues, politicians could later decidehow to spend that money.