Plastic bags linger as Richmond dithers

Virginia lawmakers are skilled at passing resolutions honoring good ideas. But they’re not so adept at emulating them.

A year ago, the General Assembly heaped well-deserved praise on Farm Fresh for the grocery chain’s efforts to reduce the number  of plastic bags flowing from its checkout lines to the state’s waterways, roadsides, farms and landfills.

In 2007, Farm Fresh launched a program in Hampton Roads to give customers a nickel for every reusable cloth bag they bring to carry their groceries home, plus another nickel to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

But helping to expand that concept to benefit the entire commonwealth remains beyond the legislature’s grasp.

In recent days, two House of Delegates subcommittees have  quashed proposals that would have encouraged more shoppers to switch to reusable bags.

A walk or a drive through just about any part of Virginia’s outdoors will confirm that plastic bags have become ubiquitous. The vast majority end up in landfills, where they consume valuable space and take many decades to degrade. But all too many of the bags become free-floating litter — and worse.

The bags ensnare and kill marine life, particularly sea turtles, as well as birds and other wildlife. They’re also a problem for farmers.

The Virginia Farm Bureau Federation — hardly wild-eyed advocates of government regulation — wants the number of bags reduced because they cause expensive damage to farm machinery and harm livestock.

In 2008, an Isle of Wight farmer appealed to lawmakers for help after a calf choked to death on a plastic bag. He and others said the bags also get caught up in cotton and are impossible to extract at the gin.

Twenty-four nations  now  ban plastic bags, according to The Washington Post. And there’s a steadily growing effort to address the problem in the United States.

Last year, North Carolina banned plastic bags at most retail outlets on the Outer Banks. It’s viewed as a pilot program that could be expanded statewide. On Jan. 1, Washington, D.C., imposed a nickel charge on all plastic and paper bags, a move that’s cut their use by 50 percent already, according to city officials.

Part of the money will be used to help clean up the Anacostia River. Retailers get to keep a portion to handle administrative costs. They also receive incentives if they offer rebates to customers who switch to reusable bags.

One of the proposals before Virginia lawmakers called for a nickel charge on plastic and paper bags, with some proceeds going toward improving water quality. The other measure called for a ban on non-reusable bags.

Those ideas — or variations — were worthy of discussion beyond the subcommittee stage. But the Assembly will let the problem pile up another year. In the meantime, perhaps it can pass more resolutions honoring the efforts of others.