Lawmakers in the US state of Colorado have passed a bill banning plastic bags and expandable polystyrene carryout containers starting in January 2024, with the legislation now headed for the governor’s desk for final approval. A number of states have already enacted laws to stop single-use plastic (SUP) carryout bags and EPS items. The legislation comes after a year in which the global coronavirus pandemic and significant opposition impacted similar bills in the US (see Plasteurope.com of 27.03.2020).

The “Management of Plastic Products” bill introduced in Colorado’s lower house and amended by the upper house enacts a USD 10-cent fee (EUR 8.4 cents) for a paper or plastic bag sold as a point-of-sale item to customers at grocery and retail stores and restaurants beginning 1 January 2023 until the ban begins.

Single-use polystyrene products would be banned effective 1 January 2024, but businesses with inventories of SUP packaging can continue to sell their stocks of the product for a 10-cent fee until 1 June 2024, according to national legislative tracking service Legiscan and Colorado news reports. Under the legislation, starting on 1 January 2024, businesses with no plastic bags or containers can only furnish a customer with a recycled paper bag at the point-of-sale if the customer pays 10 cents.

The ban does not apply to retail food establishments located within certain school districts, or businesses with three or fewer locations and no locations outside of Colorado. Plastic packaging for drugs or medical devices are also exempt.

The 10-cent charge is designed to encourage customers to bring their own reusable bags. Stores that charge the fee are required to remit 60% of collected fees to the municipality or county within which they are located to support recycling and composting programs. They are to retain the remaining 40%. In what many observers are calling a major change, starting 1 July 2024, local municipalities can enact more stringent restrictions that preempt state rules.