EDITORIAL: Plastic bags linger as Richmond dithers

THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT, NORFOLK, VA. | Tue, Feb 16, 1:00 PM

Feb. 16–Virginia lawmakers are skilled at passing resolutions honoring good ideas. But they’re not so adept at emulating them.

A year ago, the General Assembly heaped well-deserved praise on Farm Fresh for the grocery chain’s efforts to reduce the number of plastic bags flowing from its checkout lines to the state’s waterways, roadsides, farms and landfills.

In 2007, Farm Fresh launched a program in Hampton Roads to give customers a nickel for every reusable cloth bag they bring to carry their groceries home, plus another nickel to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

But helping to expand that concept to benefit the entire commonwealth remains beyond the legislature’s grasp.

In recent days, two House of Delegates subcommittees have quashed proposals that would have encouraged more shoppers to switch to reusable bags.