Sound off, Odessa!

According to the Seattle Times, "Next time the cashier says 'paper or plastic', think outside the bags. Think about ocean pollution, giant landfills and global warming," Seattle Mayor Greg Nichols says.

Then think to the near future when you might have to either pull out a reusable tote or pay 20 cents a bag.

Nickels and City Council President Richard Conlin proposed a 20-cent "green fee" on all disposable bags to encourage customers to carry their groceries home in their own home. Forget the sacks at home? A family buying six bags of groceries a week would spend $62.40 a year in bag fees. The city will issue one free reusable shopping bag per household.

Seattle Public Utilities estimates the city uses 360 million bags a year, or 600 per person. Seventy percent come from grocery, convenience and drug stores, city officials say. Nickels chose to model his fee proposed on a program in Ireland, which he said reduced disposable-bag use by 90 percent.

Store owners would keep 5 cents of the bag fee to cover costs. Smaller businesses that gross less than $1 million a year would keep the entire 20-cent fee. It would not apply to smaller plastic bags such as those available in produce sections. Seattle Public Utilities estimates the city would collect $10 million per year. About $2 million would go to provide and promote reusable bags. The rest would go toward waste prevention, recycling and environmental-educational programs.

Joe Gilliam, president of the Northwest Grocery Association, wonders whether 20 cents is the right price, given the inflation on groceries driven by higher grain and oil prices. In Ireland, officials set the fee at 20 cents, and then raised it to 44 cents before shopping behavior changed, Gilliam said.

In Washington D.C., according to the Christian Science Monitor, customers are being charged a nickel per plastic bag. Connecticut also charges a nickel. The San Francisco Commission on the Environment has unanimously approved a proposal that would require grocery shoppers to pay 17 cents for every paper or plastic bag they take home.

With the fees spreading throughout the United States, and likely to affect your wallet soon, how do you feel about the new disposable bag fees?

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