The sun is setting on single-use plastic bags in Washington, although they'll be sticking around a bit longer than planned due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The state's plastic bag ban was scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, but Gov. Jay Inslee issued a proclamation last week that pushed the start date to the end of the month and left the door open for the Legislature to delay it further.
When the law takes effect, grocery stores, restaurants and other retailers statewide will no longer be permitted to offer plastic carryout bags to customers at checkout lines. Retailers will also be required to impose an 8 cent charge per bag for paper or reusable thick plastic bags.
The change is a long time coming — 39 Washington cities and counties have already passed local ordinances with similar rules, with the goal of reducing the environmental damage from widespread discarded plastic.
New rules
The Washington Senate passed a statewide ban last year, but the bill it didn't make it out of the House before the end of the session. Lawmakers reintroduced the measure this year, and this time it passed both chambers and was signed into law in March.
Shannon Jones, Western Washington materials management coordinator at the state Department of Ecology, outlined the new rules during a Dec. 8 webinar for Clark County businesses.
The ban is specific to the type of single-use plastic bags that are typically found at checkout lines — sometimes called "T-shirt" bags — and the 8 cent charge is specific to large paper bags and reusable plastic bags. The law also requires paper bags to be made from at least 40 percent recycled material and reusable plastic bags from at least 20 percent recycled material.
Stores will still be allowed to provide plastic film bags for meat or fruit at no charge, as well as smaller paper bags. Several other types of bags such as newspaper and dry cleaning bags are still permitted with no fee, and the same goes for any bags sold in bulk, such as trash bags or pet waste bags.
Compostable bags are allowed but discouraged, Jones said, due to a lack of available composting infrastructure to properly process them in most parts of the state, including Clark County.
The 8-cent charge is intended to nudge customers to bring their own reusable bags, so the law doesn't allow stores to absorb the cost or refund the fee, Jones said — the charge has to appear on customer receipts. Stores will retain the bag fee revenue, with the expectation that they'll use it to help cover the cost of supplying paper and reusable bags.
The state measure preempts local bag ordinances, Jones said, although some jurisdictions with local 10-cent-per-bag ordinances will be allowed to keep using the higher fee until January 2026, when the statewide fee will rise from 8 cents to 12 cents.
Food banks and businesses on tribal land are exempt from the law, and businesses cannot charge the bag fee for customers using benefits such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.
The Department of Ecology will set up a webpage with a form for reporting violations. Initial violations will only result in warning notices, Jones said, but repeat offending businesses can be fined up to $250 per day for ongoing violations.
The department plans to allow a grace period of several months for stores to use up the last of their existing inventory of single-use bags, Jones said, although only in parts of the state that did not previously have a local bag ban.
Local impact
Vancouver and Clark County do not have any bag bans on the books, but many of the region's local grocery stores have either already phased out single-use plastic bags or never offered them in the first place.
Costco, New Seasons and Chuck's Produce have all exclusively used paper bags or other alternatives for a long time. The Grocery Outlet on Mill Plain Boulevard phased out plastic bags in 2019 and began offering free recycled boxes to customers in addition to selling thicker plastic bags and canvas bags.
"The boxes are by far the most popular choice," said store co-owner Ken Cole.
Walmart, Safeway and Fred Meyer all still offered plastic bags as of February. None of the three companies responded to requests for comment for this story, although the latter two are members of the Northwest Grocery Association, which testified in support of the bill in 2019, citing a desire for a single consistent statewide bag policy instead of a patchwork of local rules.
Goodwill Industries of the Columbia Willamette uses plastic bags at its Clark County stores, but the company has secured new bags and is prepared to make the switch.
"At Goodwill sustainable business practices are a core tenet of our organization," retail and marketing services director John Hannam said in a statement.
The new rules will likely feel familiar to Clark County residents who regularly shop on the other side of the Columbia River. Portland has had a plastic bag ban in place since 2011, and Oregon passed a statewide ban last year — although the Associated Press reported in April that the state had temporarily paused enforcement due to heightened sanitation concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the webinar, Jones said her department had heard similar concerns, although she said the perception of risk was unfounded.
"There have been statements released by the CDC and the Washington Department of Health recently that indicate that transmission is not likely caused by touching surfaces like reusable bags, and can best be avoided by following other commonsense safety protocols like sanitizing your bags," she said.
Nonetheless, Washington appears poised to follow Oregon's lead in pausing implementation of the ban. During the Dec. 8 webinar, Jones said industry groups had asked the Legislature for a delay and indicated that Ecology was prepared to adjust the schedule, but she noted that the session doesn't begin until Jan. 11 and her department was legally required to begin enforcement on Jan. 1 in the meantime.
Inslee's proclamation bridges that gap, and leaves room open for the Legislature to choose a new start date. The governor cited supply issues as the reason for the delay, stating that the pandemic has made it more difficult for retailers to procure alternative bags. The order is set to expire at the end of the day on Jan. 30 "unless further extended by the Legislature."
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