In a recent informal poll by Patch, around 40 percent of respondents said that they carried reusable bags before the five-cent Montgomery County bag tax and will continue to do so. About a quarter of respondents said that because of the bag tax they have now begun bringing reusable bags with them.

Supporters of the bag tax are trying to educate shoppers on why plastic bags harm the environment. The Monday night screening of a documentary called “Bag It: Is Your Life Too Plastic?” drew about 50 people to Brookside Gardens, according to the Gazette, including Delegate Al Carr (D-Distr. 18).

“I've had to go through the battle of remembering to put [reusable bags] in the car, then remembering to bring them in the store and then remembering to put them on the checkout counter in time,” Carr, who is also a member of the environmental group GreenWheaton, told the Gazette. “But I think I’ve successfully gotten through all those hurdles.”

Even if not everyone is bringing reusable bags as they shop, environmental issues and the problem of plastic bag litter seems to have reached a new level of public consciousness, according to the Gazette article.

Ed Murtagh of GreenWheaton, which helped organize the event, wrote a blog post on the Wheaton Patch about how shoppers can help fight litter in Wheaton.

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