WASHINGTON - An effort to tax plastic bag use was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA). On April 15, Earth Day, Moran announced H.R. 1628, the Trash Reduction Act 2011, along with Rep. Eleanor Norton Holmes (D-D.C.).

Moran€™s legislation would impose a 5-cent retail tax on each disposable carryout bag.

During a speech on the House floor Moran noted that, according to the U.S. EPA, the average American throws away about 4.4 pounds of trash each day (or 1,600 pounds per year), which is equivalent to nearly 248 million tons of garbage each year. "To put that in perspective, it€™s enough trash to fill a football-field-sized hole over 93 miles deep," he said.

"We consume an estimated 12 million barrels of oil and copious amounts of natural gas annually to make plastic bags that are used once۬۬or twice, then tossed into the garbage," Moran continued, adding that the U.S. International Trade Commission reported in 2009 that 102 billion plastic bags were used in the United States, and that most of the oil and natural gas used in those bags "comes from foreign countries and it's all non-renewable."

Moran said that recycling efforts for plastic bags are dismal €" that only one percent to three percent of all plastic bags are recycled, compared to a slightly higher 10 to 15 percent paper bag-recycling rate.

He cited the bag-recycling initiative in Washington, D.C., that has "led to spectacular reductions in disposable bag use. The number of plastic bags dropped from the 2009 monthly average of 22.5 million to just 3 million per month by the end of 2010."

Earlier this year in Virginia, a measure that would have required stores to charge customers a 5-cent tax on paper bags and disposable plastic bags didn€™t pan out in the Virginia Legislature, although the bill€™s sponsors vow to bring it up again next year.