Plastic bag makers have lobbied hard to defeat the fee, said the report.
Adam Parmer, a spokesperson for the Coalition to Stop the Seattle Bag Tax, said the results show the bag fee was "a costly, unnecessary tax" and the wrong approach [image-nocss] to changing behavior. "Seattle voters have made it clear that this is not the approach they want to take in protecting the environment," he said.
Supporters argued that the fee would encourage more reusable bags, cut down on pollution and waste and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. "This campaign is about much more than just one decision of the voters," said Rob Gala, a spokesperson for the Seattle Green Bag campaign, which backed the fee. "It's really about raising the awareness of voters, and we've really accomplished that."
Observers predicted that with a failure for the bag fee in an eco-conscious city like Seattle, such proposals would be an even tougher sell elsewhere, said AP.
The city has said it had expected to collect $10 million in annual revenue from the fee. Under the ordinance, small stores would keep the entire 20-cent fee. Stores with gross sales of more than $1 million a year would keep 5 cents and the rest would go to city recycling and environmental education programs.
The plastics industry's aggressive campaign against the fee is part of a national campaign to stave off bag restrictions, the report said. In California, bag manufacturers successfully sued cities that banned plastic bags.
Several states, from Colorado to Texas to Virginia, debated bag bans or fees this year, but no statewide ban or fee has been enacted. Washington, D.C., passed a 5-cent fee on paper or plastic bags, and the Outer Banks region in North Carolina banned plastic bags this year. But New York City dropped a proposed 5-cent bag fee in June, and Philadelphia rejected a plastic bag ban.
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