When D.C. imposed its five-cent bag fee in 2010, it saw a very dramatic decrease in the use of plastic bags. In Montgomery County, though, the decrease has been less significant.

According to county officials, Montgomery County has seen $2 million in revenue come in over the first year of the fee, double what was expected. That means that fewer people are ditching the bags and instead opting to pay five cents for them.

That’s not all bad, though, as the fees implemented by D.C. and Montgomery County can be beneficial in two ways: shoppers can ditch the bags as they largely have in D.C., or they can opt to use them and pay a fee that goes towards cleaning up local rivers, where many bags end up.

For example, in fiscal 2012 D.C. collected $1.6 million in fees, down 11 percent from the year prior. While conservative opponents of the bag fee pointed to this as evidence of its failure, even they admitted that bag use had declined by 67 percent.