Background. Disposable plastic bags are harmful to wildlife and the environment. They account for nearly half of all of the trash on the streams leading to the Anacostia River. They are also costly to consumers: although the bags are offered for “free” at the checkout, they are costly to retailers and those costs are ultimately passed on to consumers through higher prices. Estimates are that we pay from $15 to $38 annually for these bags in higher grocery bills.

There have been many attempts to encourage shoppers to use reusable bags – from distributing free bags to offering 5-cent price reductions at the checkout for using them. Anecdotal evidence suggests that these efforts have made some inroads but not sufficiently changed behavior to make a dent in the use of disposable bags. In contrast, a 5-cent fee levied on all disposable bags at retail establishments in Washington, DC, reduced disposable bag use by about 80 percent in the first year of operation. Now there’s a bill at the state level that would enable Prince George’s County to adopt a similar measure.

Purpose of the survey. The survey of reusable bag use by shoppers in Prince George’s County will help to gauge how successful voluntary efforts have been to date at encouraging use of reusable bags and to serve as a baseline for measuring the eventual impact of future legislation.

Coverage. The survey will take place at the major grocery stores across the county over, based on a list of about 65 major food stores culled from the internet.

Data collection. The surveyors will stand or park inconspicuously outside of the store exit(s) of the selected grocery stores for a one-hour period and classify each shopper exiting the store as follows: (a) disposable bags only; (b) disposable and reusable bags; or (c) all reusable bags. The level of observation is the shopper – we have already determined that it is impossible to accurately estimate the number of bags by eyeballing a shopping cart. The enumerator will complete a simple form for each store. Stores with two exits will need two enumerators for the one-hour period. The forms will be collected and transcribed onto a spreadsheet to tally up the patterns of bag use county-wide and separately for some of the major jurisdictions. The data collectors are not encouraged to engage exiting shoppers in discussion or to engage in advocacy, as this will likely affect the ability to conduct the count, and advocacy efforts generally involve getting permission from the store owners.

Timing. Shoppers’ bag use will be recorded at each store for a one-hour period on Saturday, January 28, from 9 am to 4 pm, or Sunday, January 29, from 1-4 pm. The date and time will be recorded on the forms so that we can match the same day of the week and time frame in subsequent years to track trends. This survey will present a weekend “snapshot” of bag use, on the days with the most customers.