BALTIMORE COUNTY — It was a lengthy Baltimore County Council meeting Monday night, and after a lot of amendments, the “Bring Your Own Bag” Act was approved.
Starting November 1st stores and restaurants in Baltimore County will no longer give plastic carryout bags.
The act requires stores and restaurants to charge a fee for a paper or reusable bag, or you can just bring your own for free.
"Ten percent of the total waste in this country is from plastic bags, it's a very high percentage and we need to take action now," said councilman Wade Kach.
One of the main changes to this bill is the fee. Originally the charge was 10 cents per paper or reusable bag, now the fee is five.
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Mom-and-pop shops, defined as local stores with less than four locations, are not included. County Farmers Markets are also exempt.
The fee impacts all shoppers. At one point there was a provision to allow people with state and federal food vouchers to avoid the fee, that measure was killed.
"I will support any efforts to reduce plastic pollution to try to make sure we conserve the precious county resources we are spending on removing litter," said councilman David Marks.
Five of the council members are on board with the change and say they feel this ban will help the environment along with some of the top issues the county is facing with pollution.
Councilman Marks also stated, "Every year, despite the best efforts of our volunteers, like the ones I was with yesterday, the amount of garbage flowing into our Chesapeake Bay seems to increase.”
"We're almost out of landfill space so this is another potential way to help reduce the amount of waste that we produce as Baltimore County citizens," said councilman Mike Ertel.
While the remaining two council members were opposed.
"I don't think that I’ve ever seen on my eight plus years on the council a more convoluted piece of legislation, in fact so convoluted it needed an attempt of 10 amendments to get it right," said councilman Todd Crandell.
"It's not so much choice when people show up at the grocery store and have to pay for a bag whether they want to or not and whether the retailer wants them to or not, so that's where you lose me on the bill," said councilman Julian Jones Jr.
If a business decides to break that plastic bag ban, the county will send a written notice to the business with seven days to stop or face a fine of up to $500.
The council approved a grace period of 90 days after the bill starts it will not issue any penalties.
