Posted on 12/17/2022 5:19:51 AM PST by real saxophonist
10-cent plastic bag fee goes statewide soon
by: Gabrielle Franklin
Posted: Dec 16, 2022
DENVER (KDVR) — The new year comes with a new fee in Colorado.
Those who live in Denver, Boulder or Fort Collins are no strangers to this fee, but other municipalities should prepare to bring their own bags starting on Jan. 1.
“Here in Colorado, we have a big plastic pollution problem,” said Danny Katz, executive director of CoPIRG, a public interest research group. “We estimate that before the pandemic, Colorado was going through about 4.6 million single-use plastic bags a day. When you think about it, there’s a huge cost to all this single-use plastic.”
Plastic everywhere, even Rocky Mountain National Park
In an effort to reduce some of the plastic use in the state, lawmakers passed a measure last year that requires stores in the state to charge customers 10 cents per plastic bag if shoppers do not bring their own reusable bag.
“You can see those single-use plastic bags caught in the waterways, flapping on trees, and they can break down into smaller microplastics. We’re seeing microplastics found in waterways all across the state, including in some of the most pristine lakes in Rocky Mountain National Park. So we’re just producing way too much single-use plastic,” Katz said.
It will not be much different for some shoppers.
“For shoppers in the City and County of Denver, there really won’t be much of a change. Retailers in Denver already charge a 10-cent fee for any bag provided to a customer at checkout at retail stores. And that is already aligned with the state’s bill, so no change there,” said Grace Rink, chief climate officer for the City and County of Denver.
Plastic bag ban takes effect statewide in 2024
Denver’s 10-cent bag fee went into effect last July. Like the state’s fee, 60% of the fee collections goes to the municipality where the store is located. The other 40% goes to the retailers, using the dollars for education about the law and helping shoppers get reusable bags. This 10-cent fee is just the first phase in part of a bigger statewide plan.
“State law actually bans plastic bags statewide starting Jan. 1, 2024,” Rink said. “However, retailers are allowed to continue using the plastic bags that they have in their inventory through June 1, 2024. So shoppers statewide will start to see a decrease in availability of plastic bags right away, starting Jan. 1, 2024, and then they’ll see them go away completely June 1, 2024.”
So far, Denver has collected almost $3 million in bag fees. The city said compliance has not been an issue but is looking to make some slight changes with a council vote on Monday so it will better mirror state law.
Proposed changes to Denver’s fee include:
Clarifying definitions of stores the rule applies to Clarification of the compliance process and appeals Removing an exemption for small bags to mimic the state law (think of places like dispensaries that put goods in those smaller bags, not produce bags, which will remain exempt)
Adding a ban on styrofoam takeout containers, like the statewide effort taking effect on Jan. 1, 2024
Revisions to mirror the state’s call to ban plastic bags by Jan. 1, 2024, but allow stores to use their inventory through June 1, 2024
Video at source.
And when I saw your comment about dog poop, I thought it referred to going to Taco Bell or Chipotle.
Will one penny for each bag (10%) go to The Big Guy?
COMMIE-RADO.... glad I got out of there!
Bring your own plastic bags and watch the “F”ERS FREAK OUT!
https://www.storesupply.com/white-thank-you-plastic-t-shirt-bagscase-of-500.aspx “White Thank You Plastic T-Shirt Bags – Case of 500 SKU: 90122 $12.40 11 ½” x 6” x 21”
what ever happened to that biodegradable plastic they were making 20 years ago? I thought all plastic bags was made of that by now. As for a use tax on disposable plastic, I have absolutely NO problem with that. We, as a society, make far far too much trash. Much of our “recycling” gets sent to some third world country, and then taken out to sea an dumped. The people who create all this filth ought to pay for it. A hundred years ago, no one had a “waste service” or a recycling center, we recycled ourselves, and what could not be recycled was generated at a much lesser amount. As it stands, our local taxes are paying for waste removal, our federal taxes are paying for “recycling centers” which don’t actually recycle. Let the people who generate the trash bear the cost of dealing with it.
It’s not a fee. The word fee is used to hide what it really is. It’s mandated by the state. It’s a tax, collected by stores.
... requires stores in the state to charge customers 10 cents per plastic bag if shoppers do not bring their own reusable bag ... highly contaminated by all manner of bacteria - the idea place for virtue signalers to use for their just purchased food. Too bad everyone else has to suffer to please the tyranny of the few.
You can buy those types of bags from Amazon. They are cheap and get delivered right to your door in a nice compact box.
And, btw/ where I shop for groceries; Aldi’s, DOES charge you 10c a bag if you don’t bring your own. Nothing wrong with that.
Will one penny for each bag (10%) go to The Big Guy?
—
Yes and most of the rest will go to the Big Guy’s Boss in China, where the bags are made.
“Bring your own plastic bags and watch the “F”ERS FREAK OUT!
https://www.storesupply.com/white-thank-you-plastic-t-shirt-bagscase-of-500.aspx “White Thank You Plastic T-Shirt Bags – Case of 500 SKU: 90122 $12.40 11 ½” x 6” x 21”
Thanks! No way will the wife and I bring a collection of dirty and heavy cloth bags for food shopping. I’m going to order. Eff the libs from now until the multiverse ends.
if the rest of the state handles the bag fee at self-checkout like Boulder does now, then the check-out station asks how many bags you “wish to purchase” ... i wish to purchase zero, so that’s how many i indicate ... will continue to do so ... yes, I’m a bag pirate, so sue me or arrest me ...
From I've seen of Colorado of late, Plastic bags are the very least of their problems...
Rigged elections have consequences.
The third world country that took US recycled trash was China - but they got tired of recycling used pizza boxes and dumped the last shipments at sea.
Now all your recycled trash, except metals and heavy cardboard, go to the local landfill or some neighboring town’s landfill.
Generations ago, we burned all of our garbage and trash of which there was very little, since there was almost no packaging.
The best way to eliminate the plastic bag problem is too eliminate Danny Katz and the Rink woman
Yep.
Shouldn’t it e a FELONY for any Public Employee to be in possession of any single use plastic bag then??
Just steal the carts and baskets. The “homeless” do.
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