Friends,

Earlier this week, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors’ Environment Committee heard a presentation from the Office of Environmental and Energy Coordination (OEEC) about implementing a county-wide 5-cent tax on single-use plastic bags.

Call, email, or tweet your supervisor in support of the 5-cent tax on plastic bags while the issue is fresh in their mind. Find your supervisor’s contact information here.

The tax would apply to disposable plastic bags provided by grocery stores, convenience stores, and drugstores. A tax could drastically reduce the estimated 3 billion bags used and trashed in Virginia each year.

The Virginia Department of Taxation estimates that if the 5-cent tax were imposed statewide, it could potentially generate $20–$24 million in revenue for localities. Revenues collected from the tax will be used to clean up our roadsides and streams, prevent pollution and litter, educate the public on this issue, and provide reusable bags to recipients of federal food support, like WIC and SNAP.

The OEEC will open a public comment period on the proposed tax next year—and we will, of course, keep you posted on that. But why wait to raise your voice until then??

Call, email, or tweet your supervisor in support of the 5-cent tax on plastic bags TODAY. Find your supervisor’s contact information here.

Julie