Paper or Plastic?

Either choice you make will cost you five cents come Jan. 1 at drug and grocery stores in the District.

The D.C. City council unanimously voted to pass a bill that requires D.C. businesses that sell either food or alcohol to charge residents who use disposable bags. Mayor Fenty signed the bill in July. The fee, however won't apply to "bags used for newspaper, produce, hardware, frozen foods, plants, bakery items, or prescription drugs," Fenty's administration assures. My question is why this fee isn't being applied to retail stores as well. Many people who can afford to shop at retail stores could probably afford to purchase reusable shopping bags. However, I presume part of the reason could be a shoplifting issue, although I still think the District should either go big or go home with this bag experiment.

There are places that litter comes from other than the grocery and drug store bags. Maybe pollution in the Anacostia River will be reduced by the fee, but I predict that there will be more litter on city streets. Maybe the answer to this problem would be to start a city-wide recycling campaign in conjunction with this bag fee. I am constantly seeing plastic bottles, cardboard boxes, tin cans, and newspapers chucked into the "Trash only" receptacles on campus. How hard is it to throw these items in the recycling bin right beside the trash? I'm sure that this is not just a GW phenomenon...but a city and nationwide one. And what about residents who may not be able to afford this new bag fee, or depend on disposable bags to keep their belongings in? The answer: Fenty's administration has been working with their "Skip the Bag Save the River" campaign to prepare residents by distributing 122,000 reusable bags to seniors and low-income residents. The District Department of the Environment has also partnered with CVS and Safeway to distribute bags to the public. CVS will even reward Extra Care Card users with one dollar per four instances of reusing a bag.

So, this holiday season, it may be a good idea to scratch "reusable shopping bags" onto your wish list underneath "iPhone" or "Northface fleece." Those nickles could really add up next semester.

When I asked my roommate, Christina Carlisi if she had heard about the bag fee, she said that she had no idea.

Just thought I'd give you a head's up.

Watch an ABC 7 newscast here.

-Kimberly Kroll