Queen Anne’s County held a public hearing on county ordinance 25‑06, a proposed prohibition on single‑use carryout plastic bags with a 10¢ charge for paper bags, and heard extensive public comment from residents, environmental groups, businesses and retailers.

Supporters who testified included Plastic Free QAC, Trash Free Maryland, ShoreRivers and local watermen and farmers. Dozens of residents described visible plastic pollution on roadsides and in marshes, cited microplastic and PFAS concerns, and urged the commission to act now to reduce plastic entering the Chester River and Chesapeake watershed. Students and educators described cleanup work and the impact of litter on outdoor education; the Gunston School and the League of Women Voters submitted written testimony supporting the ordinance. Several speakers praised Centerville’s local ban (effective Jan. 1, 2024) and said businesses there adapted.

Opponents and those asking for changes included the Maryland Restaurant Association (which asked for a full restaurant exemption from both the ban and the bag fee because of food‑safety and leakage concerns), the Maryland Retailers Alliance (which supported a ban-plus-fee approach but asked that the county mirror Centerville’s language that exempts pharmacy bags and restaurants), and several individual residents who noted cost and convenience impacts and raised lifecycle concerns about reusable bags.

Speakers for the ordinance highlighted environmental and human‑health risks from microplastics and endocrine‑disrupting chemicals in plastics, cited local waterway observations (plastic “stingrays” and bags entangled in marshes), and described agricultural impacts (bags fouling machinery and fields). A number of local businesses, community groups, and municipal council members submitted letters of support.

County staff said written comments and emails would be entered into the record; commissioners said they would take the ordinance up for a vote in two weeks. No vote was taken at the hearing; commissioners and staff noted implementation questions (timing, small‑business assistance, and exemptions) that would likely be addressed in any final ordinance.