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
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It took me about a month to adapt - and remember to bring the damn bags.
So I had to keep buying more. I now have enough reusable
bags to last me at least a decade...
Oregon (my reasonably sane part, anyway) has gone full circle. We’re back to using free “single-use” bags after bans and pricing.
There are stations in a local park which dispense such bio-degrading bags so that people can pick up after their dogs. I’d guess they’re cost prohibitive for grocery stores. Yet. somehow, inflation and rampant shoplifting are absorbable costs.
There is, of course, a real solution to the trash problem.
Energy Resource Recovery Facility
Burn it to generate electricity.
The government is not "picking up the tab" for anything. ... And, if you think it costs $.10 to dispose of a plastic bag, then I understand why you truly believe in the delusion that you're "saving the planet" by doing what unelected bureaucrats tell you to do.
You’re class act.
Here in LaLa land California no plastic bags in stores starting 1/1/2023 to save the groundhogs or some crap like that.
This isn’t about saving the planet.
It’s a screw you and a cash grab.
A real twofer for Deep State.
For shopping bags I get Baggu or Chico bags.
They’re sturdy, roomy, reusable, and washable.
And after the sales tax, Deep State doesn’t get another damn dime from me.
Amusing watching people walking back to their cars, cussing' out Murphy.
I’ve finally learned to live without store supplied/sold bags.
I have purchased several LARGE carry bags with straps. I keep them IN MY CAR.
I cash out, putting everything back in my store supplied for free cart. I push my cart out to my car and put the groceries etc. in MY bags to carry into the house. Hang the bags on the doorknob to put back in the car.
No paying for their bags that rip or strangle turtles. No packing at the checkout.
An aside. At Trader Joe’s, when asked if I want a bag (their paper bags have handles) I say “not if I have to pay for it”. Their response is “I don’t have to charge you”. I take their free bag.
“a lot of people use them to pick up dog poop.”
Their dual-use purpose in our house is for kitty litter.
When we visited NY state this year, they charge you 5¢ for a brown paper bag.
The checkout guy asked me if I wanted the groceries in bags. Well ... duh. Yes. What’m I gonna do - carry out 100 items in my arms? Then he said they’re 5 cents a piece. Well, OK and, by the way, I live in a free state and think this is stupid. He said, “New York is free.” LOL!
The idea of walking to the car and then bagging works for most of the year for us, but right now there is snow on the ground in northern Illinois so it's better to bag in the store.
Nope. If you are on food stamps use all the bags you want for free
And of course during covid if you brought your own bags in the baggers would refuse to touch them cause covid. si bag your own groceries and let the kid making 20$ an hour stand there and watch you. Nice racket
Good one.
I predict just as many “single use bags” are bought and sold. Dog poop bags. Then you throw that in to a garbage bag. Then for the kitchen or bathroom you have to buy yet more bags because, like you, I am sure millions of us all used them in our small bins around the house. So what is saved? Nothing? And what diseases are being spread with unwashed reusable bags? I look at them in stores and they are filthy. Then they get dragged around in carts and around the checkout stands leaving God knows what.
OH... Denver collected 3 million dollars in bag “fees.” ding ding ding...
I reuse the plastic bags not just for groceries for trash too. Been paying. 10 here in Cali for a long time
Oh the thin ones found in the produce section
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