Group says Durham has the authority to charge 10 cents for plastic bags. Will it?

In a 31-page legal memo, the Duke Environmental Law and Policy Clinic laid out its case.

Durham, they wrote, has the authority to require that retailers charge 10 cents for each thin plastic bag given out in restaurants, grocery stores and shops.

The plastic bags pollute our water and litter our streets and it’s time to take action, they argue.

“What we are hoping for is that the 10-cent fee sends a signal to someone that this isn’t something that’s free, that is unburdening to the community, but it has a cost associated with it,” explained Michelle Nowlin, a Duke Law professor and co-director of the clinic, at City Hall on Thursday.

It’s been 15 months since the memo to city and county attorneys was penned. Durham’s gotten a new mayor and two new City Council members since then, so on Thursday, environmentalists appeared before the council to renew their call for an ordinance.

They were met with a bit of skepticism.

Mayor Pro Tem Mark-Anthony Middleton said he was excited by the environmental prospects of the ordinance, but offered another perspective.

“For many black folk, these ain’t single-use bags. In a lot of black folks’ homes, they got a whole bunch of these bags and they’ll put one on the knob of the pantry,” Middleton said. “They repurpose them every day.”

Mayor Elaine O’Neal said she has that exact scenario in her home, reusing them for trash bags or to carry her lunch. She said she wrestled with whether this strategy could ever be equitable.

“It’s going to be your poor people who are going to think twice,” she said. “For a lot of people, it’s just a dime.”

There would likely be exemptions for people who get food stamps or are otherwise low-wealth, but that would still have to be worked out.

Council member Monique Holsey-Hyman said she’d be cautious about how folks have to self-identify as “poor.”

“I remember being a little kid we used to have the food stamps in the packages, right? And then it went to swiping and so everybody doesn’t know what you’re paying with when you’re swiping, because you could be swiping with a MasterCard,” Holsey-Hyman said.

But the Duke researchers also said poor communities are disproportionately impacted throughout the plastic production process — by litter, air pollution and landfills where the bags often end up.

Plastic bags are created from oil byproducts, and scientific studies consistently show that poor and minority communities in America experience worse air pollution from fossil fuels. One third of deaths from stroke, lung cancer and heart disease are due to air pollution, according to the World Health Organization.

Council member Javiera Caballero said there is precedent to look to from all over the world, including significantly less affluent places.

“In Chile, they have banned all plastic bags and straws. They don’t care what wealth you are,” Caballero said. “There are ways to do this that isn’t too burdensome.”

Council member Leonardo Williams, who is a restaurant owner, said the federal government has to get more involved in regulating plastic bags.

“I can tell you. One thousand plastic to-go bags costs $17 at Sam’s Club. When I buy a bushel of 100 paper bags, it’s going to cost me about $150,” Williams said.

“Cities and counties and states moving forward on this is one way of building that momentum,” said Duke grad student Kat Taylor. “You can do a voluntary campaign encouraging people to change their behavior and those are actually less effective than a fee because you don’t have the concrete cost.”

Plastic bag bans and fees shaky in NC

Durham’s effort has been in the works since 2019, securing the approval of the Durham Environmental Affairs Board that year.

It’s a collaboration between the Duke clinic and Don’t Waste Durham, a nonprofit formed 10 years ago to solve plastic pollution problems in the Bull City.

Any ordinance must go through the City Council and Board of County Commissioners.

But, in North Carolina, they run the risk of involving the legislature as well.

The Outer Banks passed a plastic bag ban in 2009, but Republican state legislators in 2017 overrode Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto to repeal the rule, The Outer Banks Voice reported.

The Duke clinic said Durham has the authority to act under the Solid Waste Management Act.

“Due to the difficulty of recycling plastic bags properly — and the costs and challenges that arise when plastic bags invariably end up at recycling facilities — Durham would be justified in determining that a targeted, tailored fee is necessary to protect the environment and human health from the negative effects of plastic bags,” they wrote in the memo.

Asheville is actively conducting outreach on a plastic bag ban and paper bag fee, local media reported.

In Durham, the fee would generate at least $1 million, the Duke researchers estimate, though it depends how significantly the fee affects consumption. Studies show that can vary from 40% to 90%.

The council agreed Thursday to form a subcommittee to further explore the possibility. Holsey-Hyman, Williams and Caballero will participate.

Caballero said even if it proves unpopular, it was time to rise to the occasion.

“We tax things that we don’t want in our society for a reason sometimes,” Caballero said. “We have to change our behaviors. When I think about environmental issues, it’s both collective and individual. It’s a combination of both to see a different future.”

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