That's why I don't live in Seattle! The stupid things that those dumb politicians come up with when there a whole list of things far more important to worry about! We live in an economy where a simple trip to the grocery sore is becoming difficult for some people and now those high and mighty politicians want to make it even more difficult. Do they plan on buying bags for the old and the poor with our tax payers money? While I believe that there has to be a better solution to plastic bags. making a law that does not make sense is not the way to go about it. same stupid politicians that bought those dumb toilet and you saw how that ended up!!!!!

I totally agree with the ban on plastic and paper bags and would like to see Spokane approve a ban on the bags. I use my own bags as do my grown children. I do however think the 20 cent per bag is much too high. Five cents would have been ample.

Stupid law !
How low can we go ?
This stupid politicians plan on to buying bags
for the old and poor ? I guess not !!!
The law does not make sense.
Somebody wants to get rich out this ? I am sure, on people sweat. This should hapen in Mexico not here in Us or this show how low our politicians can go !
Us won't be long to race with Mexico because Europe and Canada are a had of us.

If we don't use plastic bags, how do we throw away garbage at home? What should we use to line our garbage cans?
If the supermarkets charges us for plastic bags, those bags better be biodegradable. Otherwise, why would I pay for something that's bad for our environment?
It is not the plastic bags that are filling our landfills, it is the plastic containers that the plastic bags are filled with.
The law is so stupid and it is just another opportunistic Government taking our hard earned money.

Can you say " left wing liberal democrats " we are screwed again because of their idiocy and greed. Get em outta office, anyway possible

I can understand want to reduce the amount of plastic used/disposed of in this throw away society. However, the amount of plastic used in a shopping bag is very minimal compared to the absurd amount of plastic used in packaging products. I am old enough to remember when milk came in a paper carton instead of a plastic jug, and products were not encased in numerous layers of plastic.

If politicians want to seriously reduce the amount of plastic disposed of they seem to have missed the mark.

I'm glad I don't live in the socalistic city of seattle. Why don't they make it illeagle for the stores to purchase these environmental hazord bags?

although it does seem like a small step, thats what it takes to clean things up. when my three year old gets sent to his room to clean it, he always looks overwhelmed at first and says " i can't put this all away at once". so i remind him to do it one handful at a time. it's just like switching from disposable daipers to cloth. it's a small sacrifice, but not everyone wants to do it. but the key word with any small idea to clean up this earth is everyone. it will make a big diference if everyone stops using plastic bags. and the problems aren't just with the bags ending up in landfills. they blow all over the place. if they fly into a street and get stuck under your car, they can cause some expensive damage. pelicans and other creatures accidentally eat them and die. do your homework before you decide your against something that costs you less than a pack of gum every grocery trip. and the person who says what will we put our trash in?! thats the point!!! make less trash for our land fills. what did people do before there were plastic bags. we need to stop buying things that aren't recyclable. this law will make people get out of their ruts, and start using our brains and hopefully come up with solutions rather than just complaining about little things. we are a spoiled country and it's why we love it, but just like spoiled children, we tend to think it is disposable like everything else. this law should help us realize where everything really goes.

smoke another bowl tanya

Thanks for giving me one more reason other than your outrageous rental car tax to avoid Seattle when I travel. My trip to the Northwest last month I flew to Missoula instead of Seattle and will do it again. Saved $35 in rental car taxes and won't be paying your bag tax next trip.

Hmmm ... this opens up a very nice niche for marketing opportunities for companies. They will give away reusable grocery bags with their logo on it.

A cheap trick that has worked for a very long time in Europe. Now where can I file a claim to block this from happening?

so what if a guy only has enuf for a tube of airplane glue and not the plastic bag? where is the aclu on this? the airplane glue sniffers of america are gonna be pissed.

This is just another example of King County's greed and desire to separate the populace from their money, saying they are "protecting them."

When King County becomes a wasteland because no one can afford the taxes and fees, what will the county do then? Tax the traffic on I-5?

ASININE tax grab. Shopping out of the city, even if I have to use more gas to do it. Will not give this corrupt city government another dime!

The money collected by the City of Seattle will probably be squandered. But there is a way to stall out the collection of funds; at least for a while. Between now and the first of the year, collect every plastic bag you can get your hands on. And remember, it is not just grocery store bags! You can probably collect a hundred or more! At the first of the year, take your bags with you when you go shopping and re-use them until they wear out. Happy Shopping!

Another way to steal our hard earned money!! Sure
we need to care for the environment but this is to much. It's downright foolish. Some people can
hardly feed their families, while the liberals who
enacted this law are living well above the average
family (our tax money at work) Get these people out of office and vote in those who represent the
people who vote them in.

Just a note. The plastic bags are factored into the overhead of the operations of a supermarket. They aren't and never were free. I don't see the point in now charging for bags that have already been purchased by the customers. It just benefits the store. A better idea would be to give a credit or discount to those that bring their own bags in. If people can see the savings, they are more likely to contribute to a greener earth.

Eveyone should save your plastic bags. On the day the tax takes effect, we should all show up at City Hall and have a plastic bag bonfire in the lobby a la the Boston Tea Party.

instead of spending 20 cents on those bags that will only hold about a gallon K Mart has 13 gallon kitchen trash bags $11.99 for 150 bags or just under 8 cents each.

less than half the price and over ten times the storage space. the one thing that has allways bugged me is buy a large bag of chips and they put that in a bag all by its self. with the economy the way it is the last thing the people need is to get nickled and dimed to death any more.

What if I bring my own plastic bags from out of town or pretax bags?
Will I get busted by the eco-freaks?

I plan to save all my plastic bags now from the land of no bag tax. Then I will smuggle tax free bags into Seattle. Sell them at a much lower cost then 20 cents per bag and call them green bags to the eco's and liberals that like this tax.
I bet many will buy as they are normally quick to dodge any tax they push if they can.

For the rest of us folks the bags are free.

What a joke law this is.

Ah, so we finally caught up with Ireland. Their shops have been obliged to charge for bags for YEARS. The Irish are quite accustomed to saving bags to use again. Don't know why we are making such a big deal about it.

I grew up in Maine, Currently live in Oregon, and I love the idea that a local large chain supermarket came up with - If you bring in your own bags .. cloth, plastic, anything, you get 20 cents OFF your whole purchase (per bag).. If you just flat out recycle the bags you get $1 (there's a counting system, like bottles) but also in Maine keep in mind there's a deposit on EVERY bottle that comes out of that store, even milk.. but it's one of the cleanest states in the country for a reason =^_^=

Be thankful that Seattle doesn't do what MANY cities do (if they already do it I'm sorry) that you have to pay $5 for a package of 5 garbage bags that are NOT the pull and close kind (twist tie) or the garbage service won't pick them up, period!

Bring your own bags and stop crybabying.. how many times have you gone to the store and only walked out with 1 bag worth of stuff (maybe some snacks or drinks) and if you brought your own cloth bag think of the plastic you'd save.. if you (like many people) recycle the bags, reuse them to clean out your car, good!

Just my 2 cents
(it'll buy 1/10th of a bag)

Amanda
Oregon/Maine resident

Sure! Why not charge us consumers an extra $.20 for a plastic bag!!!! They've already increased the cost for groceries, fuel & everything else. Why not add one more factor in raping the public! Not only insult the consumer with rising costs & additional costs for "a plastic bag", but throw in the dwindling customer service we're getting now - that ought to make for a "happy" consumer!

Germany has been doing it for years. Wonder what took us so long. It involves thought on the part of the consumer. Helps our planet...

i dont think its a very manly thing for a guy be carrying a cloth bag with handles into a public place. maybe some guys might like the idea and maybe even matching accesories but this has all the dignity of holding someones purse while she looks at underwear. im a pretty open minded person but i draw the line at carrying anything that looks like a purse. nope, ill just have them load it back into the cart and take it out that way. ill save money and my reputation at the same time.

Instead of charging to use the bags how about a credit for bringing your own? I live in Juneau and that's how we do it....I love the credit back at the end of the tape.

I think it would be a much better use of city dollars to spend the time planning for the new tunnel or whatever anyone decides (oh, wait wasn't the city council suppose to help DECIDE that) than spend time on stealing nickels from the consummers buying groceries.

I have a closet full of bags,I'll start leaving them in my car for those shopping trips in seattle.usually on my way home from work.

I THINK THAT SEATTLE IS NOT WHERE I AM GOING TO SHOP AT!!

Welcome to Seattle or as we locals call it GOUGETOWN.
In Seattle you are not a citizen but rather a revenue source.
Seattle is a great place to live...if you're a corporation.

Whaaa Whaaa Whaaaa... Who is forcing you to use the bags for 20 cents? Bring your own bag, and maybe you'll be thankful for the law when you get to stop pulling the littered plastic bags from the undercarriage of your car when you get to work. Or maybe you wont have to walk through 2 feet of water when the storm drain outside of your house doesn't get clogged anymore. Or picking them up when the wind blows them into your front yard. And why would using your own bag ruin your reputation? Since when did a grocery bag look like a purse? I think there are some issues a little deeper than having to pay 20 cents for a bag in your case. If you don't want to spend 20 cents, bring your own bag people, for gods sake. Its really not any more complicated than that.

I work at a local food distribution place in Southern Oregon. We ask people to bring in plastic bags so we can use them for food distribution to the poor (many of these are families working for minimum wage). If the law would take place here 1) what are to to use for containers? 2) Would we have to charge the poor for their bags?

Plastic should be made difficult to use. This doesn't have to be all or nothing. Start with grocery stores where people have the option of paper or plastic. We need to take some step and get the ball rolling. Plastic is a petroleum product. I don't know what % per barrel is used on plastic (bags) but look how many poeople in how many gocery stores are using it. Tacoma to Seattle is very crowded, then imagine the numbers from there. Also my recycling doesn't take plastic bags. They take paper no problem.