Colorado will ban single-use plastic bags and polystyrene, create bag fees

[TexasTowelie]

Gov. Jared Polis signed a new law Tuesday that’s meant to force Colorado businesses and consumers to reduce their use of single-use plastic and polystyrene products.

“We know that plastic pollution affects all parts of our environment, including human health,” Polis said.

HB21-1162, which Polis signed in Denver, bans polystyrene packaging and single-use plastic bags starting on Jan. 1, 2024. The law allows several exemptions, including for restaurants and shops businesses with three or fewer locations in the state — basically, as long as they aren’t a chain with locations outside the state.

The affected retailers also must impose starting Jan. 1, 2023, a 10-cent bag fee, which applies even to recycled paper bags. Local governments can enact their own fees sooner than that, as Denver has done, and can set their own regulations of plastic and packaging products above and beyond what the state requires. And some are already fixing to.

Read more: https://www.denverpost.com/2021/07/06/colorado-plastic-bag-ban-fee/

[Dream Girl]

1. We've been doing this a long time 8n the BayArea. I'm always surprised when I visit another state an

They give me a “free” bag!

[jimfields33]

5. Would have been nice had they done this day 1 in the 1970's-1980's

Back then you were looked at with disdain if you used paper bags after plastic bags were deemed great for the environment because they saved trees. It pisses me off that the powers that he thought they had the right answer and we all followed along.

[evemac]

2. So happy this is happening!

[Rorey]

3. Some people will initially whine and complain

I don't think it'll take too long for my fellow Coloradans to adjust, but it'll be interesting to see how it's handled in self-checkouts.

[Nittersing]

7. Went thru a Home Depot self check out yesterday

and the machines were programed to ask you how many bags you used.

[no_hypocrisy]

4. At our store, customers seem to put EVERYTHING in plastic bags.

Not just produce. Butter, milk, meat, chicken, peanut butter, you name it and I've seen it.

[sanatanadharma]

6. Plastic bags blowing in the wind in Montevideo

When I moved to Uruguay, once-used plastic grocery bags (mostly) were everywhere around the city blowing in the wind, hanging from trees, piling up along the walls, dancing in the curious whirls caused by buildings.

A law was passed requiring nearly all stores to charge 4 pesos per bag; the neighborhood and environmental problem went away almost overnight. Seems that a bit of a personal stake (about 10 cents US- but more like 50 in relation to low wages) changed behavior.
People have backpacks, cloth sacks, reuse their 4-peso plastic or, ubiquitous here, have a small-wheeled frame with fabric sack for shopping.

I get to see a much cleaner parque below my balcony.