Subscribe to the Sun... the plastic newspaper bags are much better for poop than grocery bags!

(Or, if you don't read the dead-tree version of the Sun, use Freecycle to find someone who does and get their plastic bags!)

I hope this passes, and the money goes towards making re-useable and biodegradable bags cheap and plentiful.

I guess those biodegradable bags would be cheaper than paying .25 cents for the ones at your store. Or, you could do like many in the city and just leave it.

That's why we buy the Baltimore Sun!

This is such a terrible proposal. I cannot even believe it.

Pass or not pass, either way I always use roll biodegradable bags (it doesn't hurt that we sell them I guess, but I used them before our store). Who wants to be seen caring a tacky blue bags half hanging from their pocket, not to mention it may have holes in it. And on another note, do you always remember to grab one, what if you need 2 or more - I always have my bags with my right on the leash for whoever walks the dog and there are plenty there (10-20/roll). I use my grocery bags to carry other items to and fro, not to mention that a large blue grocery bag seems like a lot of waste for a little poop.

They say plastic bags take 500+ years to breakdown -- do you really want your pets waste to stick around for 500+ years? Biodegradable plastic, paper etc is a much better option. If you don't want to pay for bags, start collecting bread bags, bagel bags and other 'extra' packaging. Once you start you'll realize how many bags you will still have, even if the free bags go away.

@baglady207- What a great idea and yet so obvious and we never thought of recycling bread bags and such. We currently use the sun paper bags. Thanks for the idea!

Just FYI, those "biodegradable" bags aren't always. If they are placed in an anaerobic landfill, they don't biodegrade at all. It only works in the right type landfill.

I'm also not so keen on dog waste going into landfills that are often reclaimed as parks. Dog waste contains E. Coli and can contain other parasites. We don't dump human waste in landfills, why are we ok with animal waste going there?

Pick it up with a paper towel, shove it in a paper lunch sack and bring it home. Flush it and then put the paper products out. They are still contaminated but a lot less than a full load of feces.

If you can't figure this one out...then you're an idiot. Check yourself into a hospital somewhere.

I pick up dog poop after my yorkie. It's faily easy with a flushable dog pop bags that I use everyday. Google "flushable dog poop bags" and check out yourself.

I flush my dog's poops down the toilet with a flushable doggy waste bag. Most eco-friendly way to get ride of poops.

The company is called Flush Doggy.

There are flushable dog poop bags. The best answer probably because dog poop can get treated just as your poop is.

http://seattlebagtax.org/

The above is an informative site that provides Seattle bag tax information to the public in one place. It was designed to serve as a resource hub that enables individuals to develop a well-informed judgment on a plastic bag tax or ban.

Please visit and send the link to others interested in this issue. We’d also like to hear your thoughts which can be emailed to info@seattlebagtax.org and hope you take a few minutes to complete the survey located at the bottom of the navigation menu.

***If you are concerned about plastic bags, here are some things you can do to limit personal consumption of them in place of a tax ***

REDUCE: Plastic bags have sturdy handles and can be made strong enough to hold up to 25 to 44 lbs. of goods. Plastic bags are also waterproof (helpful in Washington weather). The plastics industry has successfully reduced the amount of waste generated from packaging consumer products and plastic milk jugs weigh 30% less than what they did 20 years ago.

REUSE: More than 80% of consumers reported that they save and reuse plastic bags. Common uses for resuing plastic bags include pet pickup, storage, trash bin liners, transport, lunch bags, protecting valuables from water, diaper disposal, moving, yard waste, holding recyclables, and donation to charities, schools, hospitals, food banks.

RECYCLE: Plastic recycling is beneficial because it decreases the amount of used plastics that end up in landfills and allows for fewer natural resourced being used to produce new plastic. Currently, the recovery of plastic recycling has been small (due to their light weight) but growing; 1.4 million tons or 3.9% of the plastics produced in 2003. In 2005, 1.65 million tons, or 5.7% of the 28.9 million tons of plastic generated was recovered. Recycling plastic bags has been available at most supermarkets since 1992 and there is a growing market for recycled plastic that did not exist a decade ago as recyclers make 15-20 cents per pound of collected bags.

It seems to me that a surcharge on plastic bags would be a big mess. It might serve as an incentive for people to bring their own bags, but I'm not sure that's really worth it.

As far as picking up after pets. I always use biodegradable bags, because whether or not I dump the waste into the toilet, I at least know that the bag is going to break down in less than a year.

Granted, there are a lot of different standards for biodegradable, but it's easy to look up the type you're using.

We make a dog leash, that has the biodegradable bags built in to the handle. They are easy to transport, and you can get 90 bags for $6.99.

There are always improvements to be made in terms of biodegradable bags, but I don't see the logic in waiting for the perfect one to come along when, as a country, we could be making slow steps in the right direction.

No plastic bag goes to waste in our house!
And I'm afraid cat litter is not terribly flushable.

I do not see how this will work