Baltimore County to consider ban on single-use plastic bags

On Jan. 3, Baltimore County lawmakers introduced the Bring Your Own Bag Act, which would prohibit single-use plastic bags at checkout counters and institute a 10-cent fee on paper bags.

With research showing the Chesapeake Bay has become a “sink” for plastic pollution, adoption of the Baltimore County proposal would add to bag restrictions in place in Howard County and Baltimore City — a trend that Environment Maryland hopes to sustain.

“Marine debris, especially plastic, is one of the great threats to biodiversity,” said Steve Blackledge, senior director of conservation campaigns for Environment Maryland and our national network of state environmental groups. “The best way to put our wildlife over unnecessary waste is to cut out more of the single-use plastics we don’t really need in the first place.”

Environment Maryland staff and members also are supporting a law that would make major plastic producers financially responsible for the waste their products are designed to become.