Paper or plastic? Beginning in January either choice could cost you.

The City Council's committee decision on a proposal to tax all disposable shopping bags is scheduled for July 22. If approved by the committee and later by the full council, Seattle consumers would be charged a 20-cent "green fee" on each paper or plastic shopping bag they use in grocery, drug and convenience stores.

The proposed legislation, expected to take effect on Jan. 1, would also ban the use of expanded polystyrene, more commonly known by the brand name Styrofoam, in all restaurants, cafeterias and grocery stores.

The bill was designed to encourage shoppers to switch to reusable bags, reduce litter and diminish garbage land filling. Proposed by Mayor Greg Nickels and City Council President Richard Conlin, it is part of the Zero Waste initiative.

"In Seattle, we do great on some recycling things, but the fact is, we can do better," Conlin said.

At the City Council meeting on July 8, many citizens seemed to agree with Conlin as they expressed strong support for the bill.

"I think it's fantastic," said Craig Benjamin, of Sustainable Ballard. "Just the education, and fact that we're discussing (the effects of disposable shopping bags) is going to have a huge impact."

According to Seattle Public Utilities, each of Seattle's residents uses an average of 485 plastic bags and 110 paper bags each year. This adds up over 360 million shopping bags city wide, 75 percent of which are purchased at locations where the "green fee" would be implemented.

Seattle Public Utilities anticipates that the tax would reduce the city's use of shopping bags by more than 50 percent, preventing the emission of 4000 tons of greenhouse gas each year. Revenues from the shopping bag tax will be used to partially offset expected rate increases for the City's recycling and waste disposal services.

While this fee on shopping bags would be the first of its kind in the United States, the program has been used in Ireland since 2002 and has reduced the country's use of disposable bags by 90 percent. However, this decrease occurred only after the bag tax was raised to 33 cents per bag. Conlin says Seattle's bag tax could increase as well.

"It's not a magic number," Conlin said. "It's a guess as to what's best going to motivate people. We would reevaluate it and see how it goes."

If the proposal is approved, Seattle will join 20 other U.S. cities, including Portland, that have banned Styrofoam.

Nonetheless, members of the grocery and food service industry have concerns with the proposal.

The Northwest Grocery Association, which represents seven different food service companies including Safeway, Albertsons and QFC, has expressed concern that transaction times in their stores would slow significantly if cashiers were to required to charge the tax based on a bag count. As an alternative, Safeway and other grocers have suggested a single transaction fee for those using disposable bags.

"We don't want to have our employees act as the policemen of this ordinance," said Cherie Myers, Director of Public and Government Affairs for Safeway Inc. "We don't want them to be negotiating with any customer to cause embarrassment or make them feel less than wanted. "

But Conlin questions the equity of a transaction fee, and believes that customers will quickly become familiar with the new check out process at their local grocer so that lines are not delayed. Nevertheless, he says the council will carefully consider the suggestion.

The Northwest Grocery Association has also claimed that the five cents grocery stores retain from each 20-cent bag fee would not cover the stores' administrative costs.

"It's not the financials alone, it's the logistics of how are stores operate and how this might impact our operations," said Holly Chisa, a Seattle lobbyist for the Northwest Grocery Association.

Many supporters were unaffected by these operational concerns.

"Those are absolutely minor issues," Benjamin said. "I mean, come one, these guys can build automatic check out machines, I think they can figure out how to operate this."

Others at the meeting expressed concern over the ban on Styrofoam for the packaging of raw meat, claiming there is currently no sanitary alternative. Meat trays have been an exception in Portland's Styrofoam ban and Safeway has requested a similar exemption for Seattle.

"The safety of our customers is the utmost importance," Myers said. "We believe in the next couple years we might have an alternative but it's not here right now."

Still, other community members at the July 8th meeting encouraged the City Council to consider how a tax on shopping bags would impact low-income shoppers.

"A person on fixed income, they do their massive shopping once a month so their bag count would be much higher," Myers warned.

Still, other advocates for the green fee argue that the bill wouldn't cost shoppers if they'd simply change their behavior.

"This (tax) doesn't affects anybody as long as people start bringing their own bags," Ellie Rose, an advocate with Foam-Free Seattle and Bring Your Own Bag, said. "It's really simply a matter of being responsible and remembering."

Currently the City has allocated up to $1 million to support the distribution of free or low-cost reusable bags, many of which would go to the elderly and low-income families.

Along with the Styrofoam ban in 2009, food service businesses would face additional bans in 2010 on all disposable plastic food service ware. Non-recyclable plastic cups, utensils and serving trays would be banned and replaced by reusable, compostable or recyclable alternatives.

"It is going to be a very, very modest additional cost that they would have to pay. I suspect that compared to the cost of food and labor it's really not very significant," Conlin said.

What's more, Conlin expects that the ban could benefit the economy in Seattle.

"We expect this is going to be an economic stimulus for people who are looking to Seattle as a place to locate their business. There is going to be a guaranteed market here for compostable products, reusable bags," Conlin said.

As the City Council continues to debate the shopping bag tax and a ban on Styrofoam, Conlin encourages members of the food service industry to work with them so that the program might be administered with the least inconvenience possible. But above all, he appears confident that this legislation could be successful.

"We've only had plastic bags for thirty years so we're actually going back to a time when people brought their bags on a routine basis. It's a relatively easy culture change to make," Conlin said.

Still, others suggest that this tax would take "green" legislation too far.

"We would like to make sure everyone understands the importance of using totes, but there will be some who choose not to," Myers said. "And they have a right to make a choice."

Rose Egge may be contacted at rosee@robinsonnews.com