Copyright Joliet, IL Patch
One national grocery store chain charges a 5 cent fee for paper bags, but Fairfax County's tax only applies to disposable plastic bags. FAIRFAX, VA — One national grocery chain has been collecting 5 cents for every paper bag their customers use at their stores in Fairfax County, even though retailers are only required to collect the fee for plastic bags. Ever since Fairfax County's disposable plastic bag tax went into effect in Jan. 1, 2022, retailers were only required to collect the fee on plastic bags. Paper bags were not subject to the law, although some retails may have their own fees on paper bags. One of the retailers that charges customers a 5 cent fee for using paper bags is Wegmans. "When we removed single-use plastic bags from our stores we added a 5-cent charge for paper bags to incentivize the use of reusable bags," Marcie Rivera, the senior public relations coordinator at Wegmans, told Patch on Wednesday. "We knew from experience, eliminating plastic bags without also charging for paper would result in customers relying on paper bags, which have greater environmental impacts than plastic bags." While paper bags are biodegradable and easier to recycle, manufacturing paper bags takes about four times as much energy as it does to produce plastic bags, according to National Geographic Magazine. Despite plastic bags being more durable than paper, they're not biodegradable. When it comes to reusable bags, a 2018 study in Denmark found that cotton bags needed to be reused at least 52 times in order to be carbon neutral. The same study said that reusable bags made of low-density polyethylene have the least impact on the environment. In 2022, Wegmans reported that the money collected from the paper-bag charge would be donated to each store’s local food bank but that is no longer the case, according to Rivera. "Now that the transition period is over, we are no longer donating the amount collected from the paper-bag charge," she said. Between Jan. 1, 2022, and June 31, 2025, Fairfax County's bag tax has generated more than $8.3 million in revenue to fund various environmental projects in the county. To date, Operation Stream Shield has received the $2,550,000 in funding, which accounts for the largest share (41.37 percent) of the $6.1 million in funding allocated from the plastic bag tax. A partnership between the county's Department of Public Works and Environmental Services and the Office to Prevent and End Homelessness, OSS offers part-time, temporary work experience to guests of the Eleanor U. Kennedy Community Shelter, Bailey’s Crossroads Community Shelter, and The Lamb Center. Some of the services OSS participants provide are to remove litter and non-native invasive plant species, maintain the county's trail system, and work at the county's trash collection and recycling facilities.
