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Philadelphia City Council is expected to pass a bill requiring all supermarkets, corner stores and shops in the city to charge customers 10 cents for each paper bag. The bill would strengthen the city’s plastic bag ban, which cut down on plastic bag use while causing paper bag use to soar.

But it’s not clear whether Mayor Cherelle Parker would sign it.

A similar bill passed City Council in 2023 but died on outgoing Mayor Jim Kenney’s desk.

Here’s what to know.

What would the single-use bag fee bill do?

Philadelphia’s existing plastic bag ban went into effect in 2021, banning single-use plastic bags and paper bags made of nonrecycled materials in grocery stores, corner stores and restaurants.

A city-commissioned study estimated that in the ban’s first year, it prevented over 200 million plastic bags from being used in the city, a volume that could fill City Hall every eight months. But the study also estimated that the ban nearly tripled the percentage of customers who used paper bags.

While paper bags can be recycled or composted, they take more energy to produce than plastic bags.

The bag fee bill, heard in a City Council committee Monday, would attempt to close this loophole and encourage shoppers to bring their own reusable bags by requiring establishments to charge customers 10 cents per paper bag. The fee would not apply to paper bags used for prepared food take-out, drive-through orders or deliveries.

“You have to change behavior,” Councilmember Mark Squilla, the bill’s main sponsor, said during Monday’s hearing. “Even though it’s only 10 cents, it’s the mindset that, ‘I’m not giving them 10 cents for a bag. I’m just going to bring my own bag.’”

The version of the bill Squilla introduced last month would have required a fee of 15 cents per bag. Squilla amended the bill to lower the required fee Monday.

The bill would also clarify that the ban applies to thicker single-use plastic bags, while adding an exception for plastic bags that enclose utensils or condiments.

Carlton Williams, director of Philadelphia’s Office of Clean and Green Initiatives, said clarifying that the bag ban applies regardless of thickness would make it “easier to enforce.”