Philadelphia City Council has passed legislation that would require all retailers to charge customers 10 cents each for a paper bag. The bill, which passed by a vote of 10-5 on Oct. 30, now heads to Mayor Cherelle Parker’s desk.

It is unclear whether Parker will sign the bill. The Local has reached out to the mayor’s office for comment, but did not receive a reply by press time.

The measure would impose a fee on all retailers, such as supermarkets, corner stores and boutiques. However, the fee does not apply to bags without handles, food trucks, or drive-through, delivery and take-out food orders.

Councilmember Mark Squilla, the bill’s main sponsor, said the goal of the fee is to encourage more residents to bring their own reusable bags and help reduce the city’s environmental impact. The bill had 10 co-sponsors, including District 8 Councilmember Cindy Bass.

“If you did have to pay, you’re more likely to remember to bring that bag with you and hopefully reduce the litter, reduce the environmental challenges,” Squilla said in an City Council hearing on Oct. 20.

History of the bill

The aim of the bill is to extend the impact of Philadelphia’s plastic bag ban, which went into effect in 2021.

The ban helped reduce the city’s plastic bag usage by an estimated 200 million bags in the first year, according to a 2023 city-commissioned study. But the percentage of customers who used paper bags tripled, according to the study. Paper bags can be recycled, but they require four times more energy to produce than plastic bags.

Squilla’s legislation bans thicker single-use plastic bags, but allows plastic bags that carry utensils and condiments.

Lawmakers have shut down paper bag fee proposals in the past, arguing they would disproportionately harm low-income shoppers. Then-Councilmember Maria Quiñones-Sánchez opposed the fee in 2019, calling it a “fee to poor people.” Mayor Kenney’s administration expressed concern in 2023 that it would drive Philadelphia shoppers and business out of the city.

Carlton Williams, director of the Office of Clean and Green Initiatives, expressed the same concerns at the Oct. 20 hearing.

Williams said he appreciates the new definition of a plastic bag, which means bag being made from plastic and made through a rigorous extrusion process, as it would make the ban “easier to enforce.” He also said that the Parker administration supports the intent of the bill.

However, the administration is concerned that would unintentionally push shoppers and businesses outside the city and financially hurt mom-and-pop businesses, low-income communities, communities of color, seniors, and recipients of SNAP food assistance. The Trump administration announced on Monday that it will restart SNAP food benefits but will only partially fund the program.

“This well-intended bill may unintentionally cause harm, especially given the current economy,” Williams said.

A burden to low-income shoppers?

Maurice Sampson, a Mt. Airy resident and Eastern Pennsylvania director of the nonprofit Clean Water Action, argued in testimony during the Oct. 20 hearing that the assumption the paper bag fee will significantly burden low-income communities is false.

Sampson, with the help of advocacy group Trash Academy, researched the potential impact of the fee on Philadelphia residents at the request of Quiñones-Sánchez.

Most of the 29 discount stores in Philadelphia already charge customers for bags to keep food prices low, Sampson said. These stores include Aldis, Lidi and Stop & Shop. On the other hand, stores that do not charge bag fees distribute the cost to food prices, he said in his testimony.

Many low-income shoppers already are not using paper bags, he said.

In Philadelphia, low-income, urban residents are more likely to use reusable or no bags at all compared to their suburban counterparts.

“I look at people all the time on buses, on the street, and you see people carrying their reusable bags. They’re everywhere,” he said in an interview with the Local last week.

Many of the 1,500 bodegas and other convenience stores surveyed still use plastic bags or no bags at all. Paper bags are three to five times more expensive than plastic bags, Sampson said at the hearing.

Teea Tynes, co-director of the Trash Academy, said in written testimony that she supports the bill because it can help reduce litter. Her neighborhood, the Fairhill section of North Philadelphia, is constantly facing illegal dumping.

“The argument that the single-use plastic bag ban and a bag fee are burdensome to communities like mine, it is extremely insulting and obscures the real burden,” Tynes said in her testimony.

What are the current fees in grocery stores around Chestnut Hill?

Montgomery County recently increased paper bag charges from 5 to 10 cents, and the measure will go into effect in January of 2026.

To see how this fee would impact shoppers in Chestnut Hill, Mt. Airy and parts of Germantown, the Local visited 14 grocery stores in the area last week.

Fresh Market in Chestnut Hill gives out paper bags for free, while ACME Markets in Mt. Airy and Chestnut Hill charge 10 cents. ShopRite in Germantown charges 20 cents per paper bag.

Weavers Way, which is located in Chestnut Hill, Mt. Airy and Germantown, charges 15 cents per paper bag, but customers can put their groceries in boxes or donated reusable bags for free. A spokesperson for Weavers Way told the Local in an email that the new paper bag fee would have “little actual impact given customer behavior at our stores.”

The Local visited three chain discount stores and several bodegas/convenience stores serving lower-income customers or communities of color. All of them said they use plastic bags instead of paper. The chain discount stores charge 15 cents or more for plastic bags and a dollar minimum for reusable bags.

An ACME employee said last week that the consensus among retail staff is to “be human” when it comes to recipients of SNAP food assistance amid the then-incoming funding freeze. Employees there hand out paper bags for customers from time to time.

Abby Weiss is an environmental reporter for the Local and a Report for America corps member. She can be reached at Abby@chestnuthilllocal.com.