The United Nations must be a fan of the D.C. Council’s intention to impose a 5 cent fee on consumers for every disposable bag — the international body’s environmental chief this week called for a worldwide ban on single-use plastic bags. Via McClatchy:

“Single use plastic bags which choke marine life, should be banned or phased out rapidly everywhere. There is simply zero justification for manufacturing them anymore, anywhere,” said Achim Steiner, executive director of the U.N. Environment Programme. His office advises U.N. member states on environmental policies.

Steiner’s declaration accompanied a UNEP report that identifies plastic as the most pervasive form of ocean litter. According to the report, “Plastic, the most prevalent component of marine debris, poses hazards because it persists so long in the ocean, degrading into tinier and tinier bits that can be consumed by the smallest marine life at the base of the food web.”

The ban is already being tested in China, where retailers giving out thin bags can be fined up to $1,464. According to one nationwide survey, 40 billion fewer plastic bags were given out in grocery stores after the law’s enactment. In addition, Ireland managed to cut single-use plastic bag consumption 90 percent by levying a fee on each bag that consumers use.

D.C.’s 5 cent fee still has to be voted on a second time by the D.C. Council and signed by the mayor, but the legislation is expected to pass easily. District CFO Nat Gandhi has already estimated that the fee would lower plastic bag use by 90 percent in the city, much like Ireland’s experience, thus helping to clean up the polluted Anacostia River. San Francisco is only U.S. city to have completely banned single-use plastic bags.