PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia City Council approved a bill Thursday that allows stores to charge for paper bags.
The bill, which passed 10-to-5 after running into unexpected opposition, allows stores to charge 10 cents for paper bags.
One member said he decided to vote no in light of the looming cuts to federal SNAP food assistance, so as not to add to grocery bills. More than 42 million Americans are expected to lose food assistance benefits starting Saturday due to the ongoing government shutdown.
But the bill’s sponsor, Mark Squilla, said he thought that was a misreading of the bill’s intention.
“The goal is not to pay a fee. It’s to bring your own bag, and we know that a lot of the underserved communities have already been doing this for many years, so I found it a little shocking that some members would think that’s a reason not to vote for it,” he said.
The fee was originally included in the plastic bag ban bill, but was removed to pass the bill.
That’s been a success, keeping an estimated 200 million plastic bags out of the waste stream. But paper bag waste persisted. Squilla hopes the fee will now tackle that problem.