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Colorado shoppers divided on newest phase of plastic bag law

By January 1, 2024 | updated 2 years ago

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Walmart shopper Whitney Gregor made the switch years ago to cloth and canvas bags and doesn’t miss plastic bags.

RICH LADEN, THE tribune

Ringing in the new year in Colorado also means bringing your reusable bags on errands in 2024.

On Monday, Coloradans buying groceries, grabbing dinner, or shopping at chain retail stores will need to provide their own bags or purchase 10-cent (at the cheapest) recycled paper carryout bags at checkout.

While many shoppers lamented on principle the state law that passed in 2021, others were ready for the newest phase but said it was inconvenient.

Colorado to enact plastic bag ban beginning in January

“The only big adjustment is trying to remember to bring the bags into the store with us, so we don’t end up having to buy more,” X user Laura Lollar tweeted.

During 2023, shoppers could still use single-use plastic bags at checkout, but chain stores and restaurants were required to charge customers 10 cents for such bags.

While change is on the horizon, the second phase of the law won’t roll out instantly, at least not at Safeway, spokesperson Kris Staaf said. That’s because the law allows stores to sell plastic bags until June 1 so that bags already purchased by the store won’t be wasted.

“We will continue to offer our customers plastic bags to sell through our inventory,” Staaf said. “Once we sell through our inventory, or June 1, whichever comes first, we will offer our customers paper bags for 10 cents per bag.”

Some shoppers said the change wouldn’t affect them because they had long been using reusable bags, while other shoppers said grocery stores were not the places they found the law inconvenient.

New laws for a New Year: Laws hit the books on Jan. 1

“I purchased a few more reusable bags in the last week,” Melissa Owens wrote on X. “It’s easy to forget at non-grocery stores, though.”

Remembering to bring a spare canvas bag will not be necessary everywhere, however. Smaller stores, defined by the law as having three or fewer only locations that are only within the state of Colorado, can continue to provide single-use plastic carryout bags.

Jessica Van Dyne

Reporter

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