Seattle’s Mayor Greg Nickels, recently proposed a tax on all disposable bags used to tote your goods home from the grocery store. The twenty cent tax, for either paper or plastic, is a somewhat hefty fine considering these items were once free, and that the average Seattleite uses around 600 per year.Simple math says this fee equates to a flat tax of $120 per person per year. Though there are certainly equity issues here that need to be addressed, we here at Alchemy Goods are happy to see this sort of issue thrust into the public eye.

As big fans of reuse, we know not only the environmental value, but the peace of mind and the darn convenience experienced when shopping with reusable bags. It makes the trip home from the store and the grocery unloading process enjoyable. It saves the space used for storing throwaway bags, and keeps you free from worrying about catastrophic bag failure.

Now that it might save money too, the trend could really take off, and we think it spells happy shoppers. Kudos to Mayor Nickels for this proposal, and if he needs a nice grocery tote, we can help.