NORFOLK -- Two bills to cut down the number of plastic grocery bags being used in Virginia likely won't pass this session.
House Bill 1115 would force retailers to charge five cents per plastic grocery bag, but it's been tabled. It wouldn't apply to "durable, reusable plastic bags and bags used for ice cream, meat, fish, poultry, leftover restaurant food, newspapers, dry cleaning and prescription drugs.
Money would go to the Virginia Water Quality Improvement Fund.
Another House bill that's been tabled would have banned most plastic bags. HB 521 would only allow "durable plastic bags with handles that are at least 2.25 mils thick and are specifically designed and manufactured for multiple reuse."
"We can't seem to do much of anything these days," says shopper George Hoffman, "more politics than practicality."
Farm Fresh is among several grocery chains that have taken a different approach to plastic bags, paying people to tote reusable bags. Farm Fresh gives them a nickel.
