Starting Jan. 1, businesses in Alexandria will be charging you 5-cents per single-use plastic bag that you use from local grocery stores, convenience stores and drug stores.
Don't think that leaving the Alexandria area will save you: Arlington County and all of Fairfax County are adopting the plastic bag tax, too.
The Alexandria City Council, Arlington County Board and Fairfax County Board of Supervisors adopted this plastic bag tax in September in an effort to reduce the negative environmental impacts of single-use plastic bags.
A regional informational website contains answers to frequently asked questions and multilingual outreach materials for retailers. Over the past few months, reusable bags have also been distributed, along with information about the plastic bag tax, to recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Women, Infants and Children (WIC) benefits.
In other words: Put your reusable bags in your car or near your front door — and start using them.
The tax does not apply to:
plastic bags intended for reuse;
plastic bags solely used to wrap, contain or package certain items (ice cream, meat, fish, poultry, produce, unwrapped bulk food items or perishable food items);
plastic bags for dry cleaning or prescription drugs; or
multiple plastic bags sold in packages for garbage, pet waste or leaf removal.
Collected taxes might be used for environmental cleanup, to provide educational programs designed to reduce environmental waste, mitigate pollution and litter; or to reusable bags to SNAP or WIC benefit recipients.
Visit the Regional Plastic Bag Tax website for more information.
