It's not often that city officials cheer when revenues fall, but the money being made from the District's disposable bag fee is dropping, and that's just what they wanted.
It means more people have gotten the message and are bringing reusable bags with them when they shop. That keeps those awful plastic sacks out of the landfills and waterways.
The Washington Examiner reported that revenue from the bag fee dropped some 50 percent between January and August of this year, bringing in $1.5 million as opposed to the $4 million that was expected.
The fee went into effect in January, and retailers said the use of reusable bags increased substantially from the start. Residents used to use about 22.5 million bags per month. When the fee went into effect, that number dropped to about three million.
Money raised from the fee funds cleanup projects for the Anacostia and Potomac rivers.
