More Maryland cities, counties to implement plastic bag bans

City of Frederick, counties of Prince George's, Anne Arundel start programs designed to reduce litter and improve landfills

The city of Frederick and counties of Prince George's and Anne Arundel will join a growing movement to ban plastic bags from stores starting January 1.

They join entities such as Montgomery County and Washington, D.C., which have had similar programs for years.

Since the single-use plastic bags distributed at most stores are not biodegradable, they can take as long as 1,000 years to decompose in a landfill, according to Frederick officials. The bags eventually become "microplastics that occupy toxins and further pollute the environment."

In addition, many plastic bags are discarded by people who litter, posing environmental threats to animals and creeks. “Plastic bags do not biodegrade and contaminate our local waterways, causing harm to marine life, clogging our storm drains, and littering our streets and communities,” Prince George's Department of the Environment Director Andrea Crooms said in a statement.

Prince George's is assessing a ten-cent fee for each paper or reusable bag customers use there. Anne Arundel is delaying the fee by a month to give shoppers time to get used to the plan.

Frederick's program will only cover the 22 square miles that comprise the city of Frederick, not the rest of the 645 square miles in Frederick County. So shoppers at the Walmart on Monocacy Boulevard in northern Frederick will be impacted, but those at the Walmart on Guilford Drive just south of the city limits will not.

Earlier this year, Frederick Alderwoman Donna Kuzemchak proposed charging ten cents for each paper or plastic bag customers use. That idea was voted down by other officials, who approved allowing businesses to either charge or give away paper bags to customers.

Customers can bring their own reusable bags, which they have long done at stores such as Aldi and Lidl. Retailers will be allowed to sell reusable bags. There are some exemptions, such as for food that is not prepackaged.

Starting January 1, stores in Frederick will not be allowed to provide plastic bags to customers. Some will provide paper bags.Photo byKevin Shay

Other cities, counties see mixed results

In nearby Montgomery County, retailers have assessed customers five cents per bag since 2012. The funds are supposedly allocated for water quality and other environmental improvements.

But collecting the money from retailers has been sporadic, according to a June report from the Montgomery County Inspector General. "Poor administration and implementation of the carryout bag tax law has diminished its potential impact," the report states. "These deficiencies have resulted in the county not collecting thousands of dollars that could be used to defray the cost of litter cleanup efforts."

The county has also only taken "limited efforts" to assess the program's effectiveness on improving waterways and the environment, the study found.

Baltimore County started its ban with a five-cent bag tax November 1. Howard County has had a tax since 2020 and the city of Baltimore since 2021. Numerous other Maryland cities and counties have followed suit.

Washington, D.C., implemented a five-cent bag tax in 2010 and found a drastic reduction in plastic bag usage. By 2018, officials said plastic bag usage declined by as much as 70 percent since 2010.

Many other cities nationwide have implemented plastic bag bans. Some question why regular trash and grass clippings are allowed to be placed in large plastic bags, most of which are not biodegradable. Some use large compostable bags, but they can be costly.