Virginia’s most populous county passes single use plastic bag fee

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Environment Virginia

Fairfax County, Va. — Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted 9-1 on Wednesday to approve a plastic bag fee for Virginia’s most populous county. Authority for localities to implement a fee on plastic bags was approved by the General Assembly in 2020.

Fairfax County is just the second locality in Virginia to take action on plastic bags after Roanoke’s city council approved the measure in May. The fee will go into effect at the beginning of 2022. 

In response to this announcement: Environment Virginia State Director, Elly Boehmer, released the following statement:

Virginia’s waterways and wildlife are among the Commonwealth’s best assets and by taking action on this dangerous single use plastic, Fairfax leaders have chosen to put the planet over plastic.

By approving the bill, Fairfax County has recognized what most Virginians already know: a lot of waste comes from things we don’t need and we know we shouldn’t use, including single use plastic bags. This trash ends up in our open spaces and waterways, where it endangers wildlife. Nothing we use for five minutes should pollute our planet for generations to come. 

Environment Virginia has talked to tens of thousands of Virginians about plastic pollution and we are excited to see localities starting to take action on one of the most harmful types of single use plastic. We thank the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors for their leadership on this issue. We look forward to seeing more cities and counties across Virginia adopt the fee as well as encourage our state leaders to go even further by taking statewide action.