While kayaking in shallow creeks around Virginia Beach, volunteers with Lynnhaven River Now constantly pull up plastic bags on their paddles during cleanups. Dylan Mason, the nonprofit’s public policy manager, hopes to change that with a 5-cent tax on the disposable bags.
A growing number of cities and counties in Virginia are adopting bag taxes to prevent plastic from clogging storm drains, harming wildlife and entering the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers. Richmond will be the latest, with a law that goes into effect Jan. 1, and the Virginia Beach City Council is expected to consider a similar ordinance in 2026.
Plastic bags and other litter can enter waterways through storm drains. Once in the water, aquatic wildlife can get entangled in plastic waste or accidentally ingest plastic bags by mistaking them for prey such as jellyfish. In 2019, grocery bags were the third most collected trash items from the Virginia International Coastal cleanup…