Plastic Bag Tax Starts April 1 in the City of Falls Church
Wednesday, January 5, 2022 -- Beginning April 1, 2022, a five-cent tax on single-use disposable plastic bags will go into effect for grocery stores, convenience stores and drug stores in the City of Falls Church. The same tax went into effect in Arlington and Fairfax Counties and the City of Alexandria on January 1. The City of Falls Church Council adopted the plastic bag tax as a step to reduce the negative environmental impacts of single-use plastic bags.
To support the transition, all of the jurisdictions have been working closely with the Northern Virginia Regional Waste Management Board to align outreach, education, timelines, and common language for the localities to ensure consistency and clarity. A regional informational website contains answers to frequently asked questions and multilingual outreach materials for retailers. Reusable bags have also been distributed with information about the plastic bag tax to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Women, Infants and Children (WIC) benefit recipients over the past few months.
The tax would not apply to:
plastic bags intended for reuse;
plastic bags solely used to wrap, contain or package certain items (ice cream, meat, fish, poultry, produce, unwrapped bulk food items or perishable food items);
plastic bags for dry cleaning or prescription drugs; or
multiple plastic bags sold in packages for garbage, pet waste or leaf removal.
Collected taxes may be used for environmental cleanup; providing educational programs designed to reduce environmental waste, mitigating pollution and litter; or for providing reusable bags to benefit recipients of either Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or Women, Infants, and Children Program (WIC).
