The mandatory plastic bag fee that changed Torontonians’ shopping habits will die this week if Mayor Rob Ford’s lobbying efforts pay off.

Councillor Michelle Berardinetti, campaigning to keep the 5-cent fee but encourage big retailers to divert some proceeds to the city’s tree canopy, doesn’t know if it will survive the Wednesday-Thursday council meeting.

“The margin for the vote is really tight, razor thin,” she said Monday. “It seems a few (councillors) might have had a change of heart. Hopefully the debate and discussion will bring them back (to support the fee).”

Berardinetti is working with celebrity gardener Mark Cullen to craft a “marketing and branding,” campaign to give retailers good publicity in return for a slice of bag profits to help replace some of the 860,000 ash trees expected to fall victim to the emerald ash borer pest.

“If something’s working, why rescind it,” she asked, noting city staff report the use of disposable bags has dropped 53 per cent since the fee was introduced June 1, 2009.

Several councillors who voted against the tax back then, including David Shiner, John Parker and Karen Stintz, want to scrap it now.

Plastic bags now go in the recycling blue bin, they noted. Also, some call it nonsensical to force retailers to charge a fee that puts millions of dollars in their own pockets. Grocery chains have expanded the fee to other cities and are expected to keep charging it whether it’s mandatory or not.

“The city had no authority to impose that tax,” said Stintz, the TTC chair. “We’ve raised people’s collective awareness about recycling and have added bags to the recycling stream. The accountability falls to retailers as to what they’re charging and where the money goes.”

In the middle are councillors including James Pasternak who say Ford and his staff are strongly encouraging them to vote with him to kill the fee.

“I’m still debating whether to support rescinding it or keeping it,” said Pasternak, a rookie councillor. “The irony — I think the back story to all of this — is that even if you rescind it, many of the stores, the larger stores, will continue to charge it.”

But he also admires Berardinetti’s effort. “I think if we can get some of the corporate citizens to help environmental causes, I think that’s a wise offset.”

Ford himself appears to have had a change of heart on the subject.

Ten days before the 2010 election that saw him elected mayor, Ford said at a debate: “The 5-cent bag tax, I haven’t said I’m going to eliminate it but I’m going to put it towards some sort of environmental program to educate people about the environment.”