Maryland General Assembly Trash Roundup

By now you've probably heard that the Community Cleanup & Greening Act did not pass in the 2012 session of the Maryland General Assembly. We fought hard and had some successes along the way, but given the heavy load of challenging legislation in this session, we couldn't quite float to the top. Thanks so much to all the activists and organizations that spoke out in support and contributed to the effort, and tremendous thanks to our dedicated sponsors, Delegate Mary Washington and Senator Brian Frosh.

But there were several bills related to litter, and of interest to our members, in this session. How did we do there?

- Prince George's County bag fee: Unfortunately, after successfully getting through the County delegation, the bill to give Prince George's County the power to establish its own bag fee failed in the House Environmental Matters Committee. I examined the path that proposal took on Greater Greater Washington back in March. The County now faces the choice of trying a third time in the General Assembly, taking the five-cent fee to the ballot, or looking at other methods to reduce bag use and litter. We're in those conversations and will keep you posted.

- Bottle bill: HB1115/SB875 sought to require the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) to produce a concept for a container deposit system and present it to the General Assembly and the Governor for consideration. This would be a first step in creating a "bottle bill" as exists in 10 US states and Guam (as well as numerous countries). These systems increase container recycling rates from a typical 25 percent to 75 percent or more, dramatically reducing litter. Unfortunately this bill failed to receive a vote in committee in either the House or Senate.

- Plastic bag recycling: Delegate Stephen Lafferty and Senator Joan Carter Conway sponsored industry-supported bills to push for a recycling solution to bag litter, by requiring bag manufacturers to register with MDE and implement a recycling program (extended producer responsibility), as well as require retailers to offer bag take-back recycling programs for shoppers. While the proposals passed the Senate, they did not receive a committee vote in the House. I wrote about these proposals during session, and how they were a poor substitute for real, impactful litter-reduction legislation, so this failure is good news for trash-free advocates!

Early numbers are in from Montgomery County

Montgomery County's bag fee earned $154,000 for the county's Water Quality Improvement Fund in January. This figure is based on tax receipts from many county retailers, and is the remainder after the retailers kept their portion (one cent from every five).

But what does this number really mean? At this point, not much. One month is nowhere near enough time to measure behavior change; there is a learning curve for shoppers and businesses. Not all businesses have even submitted tax receipts yet because their collections haven't reached the required threshold. It's just too early. Washington, DC, never intended to scientifically measure the before-and-after until two years in--that study will occur later this year.

In the meantime, we can compare it to early results in DC and make some hypotheses, as the laws are quite similar. In January 2010, the DC bag fee generated $150,000 for the Anacostia River Cleanup Fund--approximately the same amount. But Montgomery County's population is more than 50% larger than DC's, approximately 970,000 residents to DC's 600,000. Granted, the daytime (employee) population is higher than the resident population in DC, but generally speaking we can interpolate that fewer plastic bags were used per capita in Montgomery County in January 2012 than were used in DC in January 2010.

We know in DC that 75% of residents ultimately say they have changed their behavior and use fewer plastic bags. The quick adoption of reusable bags meant that the fee did not generate as much revenue as was originally expected--less than $2 million the first year compared to the expected $3.5 million. This is a success, because it meant more people used reusable bags, having a greater impact on litter reduction and waste.

Montgomery County subsequently scaled back their revenue expectations even further, estimating only $1.2 million in revenue the first year. They expected that behavior would change even more quickly since people are already familiar with the program in DC. Since we also expect monthly revenues to decline over time, this first month's amount is on track with the estimate and shows that Montgomery County consumers are indeed beginning to make the switch from single-use disposable to reusing--or even refusing--bags when shopping.

Prince George's County one big step closer to a bag fee

This morning delegates that represent Prince George's County in the Maryland General Assembly voted 12-9 in support of HB895, which would give the County the authority to enact a five-cent fee on disposable plastic and paper bags. The bill now moves to the Environmental Matters Committee of the House, and then to the floor of the full House of Delegates. In considering local bills like this one, though, those committee and floor votes are for the most part a formality, as the current legislature prefers to support the counties' wishes.

The County's senators must also support the bill, but it passed easily last session and no senators are known to have changed their position.

This vote has been the biggest hurdle in the process so far. Opponents of the bill--namely the manufacturers of plastic bags--have paid a fortune in public affairs and outreach expenses, with thousands of robocalls misleading citizens and flooding delegate offices. The County Affairs subcommittee was unable to reach constitutional majority on either a favorable or unfavorable recommendation (and even on "no recommendation"), but after three such votes it was eligible to move up to the full delegation anyway.

The bill's supporters withstood the pressure and protected home rule, allowing the County Council to now take up the bag fee this fall. The authority will take effect in October. The Council voted 8-0, with one abstention, last month to support this measure. Should the statewide bag fee bill also pass, the Council will have six months to pass the county's program in order to be exempt from the statewide system.

The supporting delegates were sponsor Barbara Frush, Ben Barnes, Dereck Davis, Tawanna Gaines, Anne Healey, James Hubbard, Jolene Ivey, Doyle Neimann, Joseline Pena-Melnyk, Justin Ross, Michael Summers, and Kris Valderrama. Delegate Ivey attended despite being on bereavement leave following the death of her father last week.

Join us for Lobby Night!

Want to get directly involved in educating lawmakers about litter, and how they can help stop it at the source? Join us for the Trash Free Maryland Lobby Night on Monday, February 27! We'll set up meetings for you and give you the training you need to visit your representatives and have your moment in the sun.

We'll convene for training in the Miller Senate Building (11 Bladen Street, Annapolis) from 5 pm until whenever you can stay. To sign up for the event, fill out the form here, and we'll be in touch!

If you can't make it on Monday, you'll have additional chances on March 5 and March 12. Fill out the same form and make a note where appropriate.

Introducing the Community Cleanup and Greening Act of 2012

Last Thursday Delegate Mary Washington (D-District 43, Baltimore City) introduced the Community Cleanup and Greening Act in the House of Delegates of the Maryland General Assembly. Senator Brian Frosh (D-District 16, Montgomery County) introduced the same bill in the Senate on February 2.

The Community Cleanup and Greening Act aims to reduce litter in Maryland's neighborhoods and environment by imposing a five-cent fee on disposable plastic and paper bags. One to two cents stays with the retailer. The remaining proceeds will be split three ways: to purchase and distribute free reusable bags to low-income and elderly residents; for counties to apply to water quality improvement projects; and for the Chesapeake Bay Trust to administer as environmental restoration grants.

"A bag fee can have a substantial impact on litter, because it encourages shoppers to use reusable bags," said Julie Lawson, Organizer of the Trash Free Maryland Alliance. "If the program never collects a nickel, because everyone switches to reusables, we will have achieved our goal."

The legislation is modeled on successful programs in place in Washington, DC and Montgomery County. In the two years since the implementation of the Anacostia River Cleanup & Protection Act, 75 percent of DC residents say they have reduced their use of plastic bags, leading to reduced costs for retailers and fewer bags picked up at river cleanup events. Proceeds of the fee have been used as grants for green businesses and nonprofit organizations working to restore the Anacostia River, as well as for distributing thousands of reusable bags to those in need.

"There is no such thing as a free bag," said Laurie Schwartz, Executive Director of the Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore. "Retailers could see significant cost savings as they will not have to buy as many bags to then give away. Even a small mom-and-pop shop might save over $1,000 a year."

"Litter brings down the quality of life for residents," added Halle Van der Gaag, Executive Director of Blue Water Baltimore. "It is not only visually ugly but contaminates our waterways. Baltimore City spends more than $10 million each year to clean it up, so preventing it in the first place is more sustainable in the long-term."

The Community Cleanup & Greening Act, SB511, will be heard by the Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs Committee on February 28. The hearing on HB1247 has not yet been scheduled.

More on the Prince George's campaign

I told you there would be more. Greater Greater Washington ran this article of mine on Friday, laying out the whole scenario. Please read, and leave a comment! If you want to put more skin in the game, and have some time on Monday, please send me an email. We are actively working on outreach to supporters and need your time and energy.

The report of the bill's death was an exaggeration

The Prince George's County bag bill (PG 402-12) got the Mark Twain treatment from the Washington Post and elsewhere yesterday. More to come, but the County Affairs committee vote yesterday has merely slowed--not stopped--the bill's progress in the General Assembly. It is a powerful reminder that supporters need to speak up, though! The plastics industry is paying for hundreds of robocalls, giving a false impression about support in the County.

Email--or even better, call--your delegates (especially Delegate Veronica Turner of District 26) today and tell them that you support a fee on disposable plastic and paper bags, and that they should too. More specifics about the campaign are posted on our County Campaign tab.

Last week's Environmental Legislative Summit

Last week we were honored to be included among the Citizens Campaign for the Environment's priority issues at the 18th annual Environmental Legislative Summit. More than 400 people packed the Miller Senate Building to hear about the key proposals for this year's General Assembly session. Brent Bolin of the Anacostia Watershed Society gave a terrific introduction to the Community Cleanup and Greening Act.

Plastics industry introduces two weak alternatives

Two industry-written proposals have been introduced in the General Assembly in recent days. Their intent is to make it look like the industry is "doing something." In fact, they will only encourage complacency and confuse people when stronger, more effective proposals are also achievable.

Late last week SB164 was introduced in the General Assembly. The Plastic Bag Recycling Act is a sort of extended producer responsibility (EPR) measure intended to appear as though the plastics industry is taking steps to become more sustainable.

EPR is in theory a good thing--you make something, you should be responsible for dealing with it at the end of its useful life, instead of leaving that to the general public (i.e., taxpayers) or simply abandoning it. European countries have strong EPR laws and their municipal waste volumes are quite low compared to ours in the U.S.

But weak EPR proposals can also hinder the success of real, viable, effective solutions, because it makes people think they are doing something, and resistant to doing more, when in fact nothing of substance changes.

And that is the case here. SB164 requires plastic bag manufacturers to register with the state, print their names on the bags they distribute to retailers in the state, and file reports about how many bags they sell and recycle. They are also required to educate the public about recycling.

How printing the manufacturer's name on a bag reduces litter, I really can't say.

Identical legislation was considered in Illinois last year but it failed to get out of committee.

We expect this to be cross-filed in the House shortly. Meanwhile we already have HB169, which requires stores to maintain recycling bins where customers can bring their bags back. In theory, this is fine--not all jurisdictions offer curbside recycling of plastic bags, and it discourages shoppers from just throwing them away. But retailers are already paying to have their trash taken away; adding recycling pickup adds cost. Small businesses will really feel that extra cost.

And while plastic bags are theoretically recyclable, even if every one of the 3 billion bags Marylanders use each year were turned in for recycling, the infrastructure just isn't there to handle them all. More than 90% of them will be landfilled or incinerated--or lost to the breeze during transportation and become litter anyway. (See the EPA's own data, fourth bullet under Just the Facts. That green box on the right side of the page might interest some of you as well.)

Thus we need to look at proposals that will target that "3 billion bags used" number. Reducing the amount of bags we use is the only way to truly reduce how much trash we produce, and how much litter blights our neighborhoods.

The Community Cleanup and Greening Act will be introduced next week. Stay tuned.

Contact your representatives!

As we wrote in November, Prince George's County is working toward a five-cent fee on plastic and paper bags, to reduce litter and save money for shoppers, businesses, and the county government. In order to bring the matter to the County Council, first the Maryland General Assembly has to give the county authority.

We have a new email action alert system to allow you to easily show your support of this proposal. When you sign, an email is sent to your delegates and senator that represent you in Annapolis. You can also include a note about why you think this legislation is a good idea.

Send an email by clicking here. We also encourage you to call. Your representatives' phone numbers are listed when you enter your zip code at the action alert, or you can search by your address here.