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Cuyahoga County considers 10 cent plastic bag fee

A trip to the grocery store could soon cost you more.

That is because on Tuesday night, the Cuyahoga County Council will consider a plan to require stores 7,000 square feet or bigger to charge 10 cents for each plastic bag used.

Exceptions would include newspaper bags, bags from pharmacists, bags for bulk and perishables, doggie bags from restaurants, and the plastic on dry cleaning.

Stores would keep a portion of the proceeds, while the rest would fund projects for the environment.

According to county officials, four cents will go to the retailer, one cent will be returned to the county and five cents will be contributed to remediation funding for the lakefront.

Advocates believe the law could cut down on pollution by hitting shoppers in the wallet.

Jean Nate Thompson is a frequent grocery shopper and said the cost could would add up fast for her. “Over like 100 dollars a year. That’s a lot of money when you think about it,” she said.

Others, such as Caroline Allison, said the bag tax would not affect her much. “You could just buy the kind that you reuse,” she said, “The 'reusables,' and just keep reusing them and avoid paying that money for the bags.”

Other counties and countries have already passed similar laws.

The council will not be voting on the measure Tuesday, however if they do decide to pass it at a later date, it would go in to effect next summer.

WKYC Channel 3's Dorsena Drakeford had more on this story during our 11 p.m. news on Tuesday:

See the full text of the proposed Cuyahoga County legislation (scroll to page 67):

20171010 MTG AgendaAttach (1) by WKYC.com on Scribd

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