A new study shows that 80 percent of residents now use fewer plastic bags since the law was enacted in 2010.

How did D.C.’s five-cent bag tax come to be? This video explains it.

Montgomery County shoppers are more likely to pay five cents for a plastic bag than they are to bring their own bags, according to county officials.

Plenty of people dislike the idea of charging five cents for a plastic bag. To some, it discriminates against those with fewer means. To others, though, it pushes consumers towards reusable bags, which are simply a health hazard.

The District imposed a five-cent fee on plastic bags almost two years ago, and we seem to be leading a regional trend.

The Post reports that the Montgomery County Council has voted 8-1 in favor of instituting a five-cent bag tax in the county.

Much like the now three-year-old ban on smoking in District bars and restaurants, the five-cent disposable bag fee that took effect in January garnered initial controversy, but is already on its way to being just another part of living in the city. But how effective has the fee been? Very, it seems. According to a press release from the office of bag fee champion Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), a report from the D.C. Office…

We’ve been getting a kick out of this recent posting to the Columbia Heights email list, decrying the shortsightedness of the recently implemented 5 cent disposable bag tax. Let’s say for the sake argument that an average grocery shopping trip fills five bags. The logic here then seems to be that roughly 25 cents is enough to draw the line on spending hundreds of dollars weekly, and that the extra hour of personal time…

With the Jan. 1 implementation of the District’s 5 cent disposable bag tax looming, Council member Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) sent out some updates on how area retailers are preparing. The list is a little vague in some places, but the best opportunities to score free reusable bags look to be coming from Giant and Harris Teeter. Giant is about to launch the most generous bag giveaway of any local retailer: throughout the entire…

Photo by M.V. Jantzen Good morning, District. As the world turns its attention to Copenhagen for UN climate talks that seek to shape the global debate about planetary climate change, District residents have a few opportunities to affect change at a local level. For some in this media-rich town, that charge is read as a challenge to generate the most counter-intuitive angle possible on climate change. Our own disgraced climatologist George Will wins that…