[A] legislative panel shelved a proposed tax on disposable bags Thursday with hopes that retailers will take voluntary measures to reduce plastic and paper bag use.
The House Natural Resources and Energy Committee tabled a vote on H.295, the latest effort to place a 5-cent tax on disposable carryout bags from retail establishments.
Minutes before the vote, retailers testified in opposition to the bill.
“We feel we can meet many of these goals voluntarily, we just need the opportunity to work hard on it,” said Marc Sherman, vice chair of public policy for the Vermont Retail and Grocers Association.
Sherman, owner of Stowe Mercantile, said he deposits a nickel into a jar every time customers do not use a bag. The money is then donated to local charities. The business donated $800 last year, which equals about 16,000 bags.
“We’ve cut our bag use dramatically,” Sherman said.
Larger members of the Vermont Retail and Grocers Association have not, they said. The group represents retailers ranging from the retail grocery chains Shaws and Hannaford to Hawley’s Florist in Rutland.
“We’re a diverse group, and that is one of the challenges,” Sherman said.
Advocates were frustrated to see the bag tax put off for another year.
“Voluntary actions just aren’t working. We still see bags on our roadsides. We see them caught in trees. This is just an issue where the carrot is not working,” said Taylor Johnson of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group.
Sherman said retailers have other concerns.
“It has to be a higher priority for retailers to implement something voluntary. At the end of the day, most of us are busy trying to run our businesses,” he said.
Lawmakers said they were concerned the tax would be a “blunt instrument” for small and large businesses. Others said the tax might push consumers to out-of-state retailers.
Rep. Tony Klein, D-East Montpelier, who chairs the Natural Resources and Energy Committee, said the committee could take the rest of the session to work on the issue. He said he hopes the discussion of a 5-cent tax will prompt retailers to address the issue voluntarily.
The bag tax was estimated to generate up to $2 million before it tapered off after 18 months, according to a February report by the Solid Waste Infrastructure Advisory Committee, which was commissioned by the Legislature.
Proponents say the tax is about keeping plastic bags out of the waste stream.
“They cost a lot in terms of carbon footprint to create them. There really is no way to recycle them. You can’t throw them in your blue bin,” Johnson said.
The tax was intended to be used to fund infrastructure projects to help solid waste districts and private haulers comply with the state’s universal recycling law, known as Act 148, which aims to ban all organics and recyclables from landfills by 2020.
