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Fairfax County’s 5-cent plastic bag tax has generated more than $6 million since taking effect, while disposable bag use and plastic litter have declined.
The county recorded 1.6 million fewer plastic bags in 2023 than in 2022. During the first eight months of 2024, usage fell by another 2 million bags compared with the same period in 2023. Officials also report fewer discarded bags in parks and along roads.
“The bag fee has never been about generating revenue but about changing behavior that helps our planet and helps our community reduce litter,” Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay said.
Fairfax County enacted the tax on Jan. 1, 2022. It applies to disposable plastic bags supplied by grocery stores, convenience stores and drugstores. A ban would require authorization from the Virginia General Assembly.
Under state law, the Virginia Department of Taxation returns the collected revenue to the locality where it originated. The money may support environmental education, cleanup work, pollution and litter reduction, or reusable bags for people receiving SNAP or WIC benefits.
The county’s Office of Environmental and Energy Coordination reviews funding applications and selects projects with help from a multi-agency committee.
The largest allocation described by the county is $390,000 for Operation Stream Shield, representing 38% of the relevant funding total. Launched in 2019, the partnership between county departments and community shelters provides temporary, part-time jobs to people experiencing homelessness. Workers remove litter and invasive plants, often near streams, roads and other dumping hot spots.
Another $360,000 will continue a program that removes illegal signs from Virginia Department of Transportation rights-of-way.
Other six-figure allocations support a pilot project that would divert unused latex paint from county landfills for reuse in Honduras, Zero Waste training in designated opportunity neighborhoods, and food-composting collection and education at county-run farmers markets.
Bag-tax revenue also pays for reusable shopping bags and compostable produce bags distributed at county farmers markets. Additional projects received allocations ranging from $5,000 to $77,000 through a $2 million revenue package funded by fiscal 2023 carryover money and a fiscal 2024 third-quarter allocation.
Among the smallest awards, at roughly $2,000 each, are an anti-littering sign campaign at Laurel Hill Park in Lorton and equipment for collecting and bagging trash at two detention ponds and an open concrete channel. The latter project is intended to test ways of controlling litter in stormwater systems.
County environmental officials also encourage shoppers to choose reusable bags instead of switching to paper. The Office of Environmental and Energy Coordination says using a reusable bag rather than paper can save about 53 megawatt-hours of energy annually and 7 liters of water.