I am writing in support of legislation introduced by Del. Brooke Lierman to address the plastic bag consumption in Maryland ("Advocates try in Annapolis for plastic bag ban," March 10).
I lived in Dublin, Ireland from 1999 to 2009. In 2002, the Irish government put a 15 euro cent (about 22 U.S. cents) fee on plastic bags. Within one year, 90 percent of shoppers adapted to permanent bags. It just became socially unacceptable to use disposable bags. The city became cleaner overnight. No bags caught in tree branches and no bags on the street. The bottom line is that it works.
These bags are a threat to our environment and cost all of us — in increased prices of goods (they are not free), tax dollars used for the clean-up and ultimately in the destruction of our environment.
Margaret Webster, Baltimore