Philadelphia City Council Votes to Ban Plastic Bags with Landmark Legislation That Reduces Waste and Saves Money

PHILADELPHIA, PA (December 12, 2019) Today, Philadelphia City Council voted to ban all plastic bags from retailers and call for a study of single-use bags. This bill will go into effect on July 2, 2020. That date was set because the state has preempted municipalities from enacting any legislation until after July 1, 2020. The City of Philadelphia spends between $9 million and $12 million a year cleaning plastic bag waste from the streets, sewers, and bodies of water. Missing from the legislation was a fee on all other single-use bags like paper bags that will be addressed in the 2020 Council session.

Joseph Otis Minott, Esq., Executive Director and Chief Counsel of Clean Air Council, issued the following statement:

“Philadelphia uses approximately 1 billion single-use bags every year, and most of those are plastic. These bags litter our communities and cost taxpayers millions of dollars every year to clean up. Although this bill is long overdue and misses a very important fee component, we are very pleased that City Council has finally started to address the chronic, and devastating litter problems the city faces. By banning single-use plastic retail bags, Philadelphia has joined hundreds of other communities across the country in sending a message that we realize there is a plastic problem. We hope that this law will be amended in the next session to include a fee on all other bags.”