The Issaquah City Council recently adopted an ordinance that bans single-use, plastic carryout bags at retail stores.

The plastic bag ban will take effect in 2013 and will follow a phased approach, applying to larger retailers March 1, 2013, and smaller retailers March 1, 2014. View our flyer for more details.

What the ordinance does

• Prohibits retail stores from providing customers with single-use plastic carryout bags.
• Retail stores may provide any size paper or reusable carryout bag.
• Requires retail stores to charge a minimum 5 cents per bag for larger single-use, paper carryout bags provided to customers (1/8 barrel or larger, or about 882 cubic inches). Larger paper bags must contain at least 40 percent post-consumer recycled content.
• Retailers are allowed to retain the paper bag charge to help offset the cost of bags. The charge also helps provide an incentive to the customer to reduce paper bag use.
• Requires all paper bag charges to be itemized on the customer receipts.
• Provides for fines of $250 for violations.
• Several exemptions include:
  • Plastic bags are allowed for meat; bulk foods; fruits and vegetables; flowers; small hardware items; newspaper bags; dry cleaning; bakery goods and similar items
  • Plastic bags for take-out food from food service establishments.
  • Services for low-income households; food banks. State or federal financial assistance program beneficiaries are exempt from the 5 cent paper bag charge.

Businesses may apply for temporary waivers from the ordinance.

Background
The ordinance promotes reusable carryout bags as the best alternative to single-use plastic and paper bags. It is modeled after similar requirements adopted in Seattle, Bellingham, Banbridge Island, Edmonds and Mukilteo.

Issaquah will be helping to support adoption of reusable bags by providing reusable bags to low-income households and the community, and conducting education and outreach for shoppers.

Plastic bags are a global and regional litter concern - particularly in the marine environment - and have very low recovery rates for recycling. While paper bags consume larger amounts of water and energy to produce, they are more readily recyclable (with recovery rates of about 80 percent), and are biodegradable.

Plastic bags are made from non-renewable resources and do not biodegrade in the environment. An estimated 2 billion disposable plastic bags are used annually in Washington State, and less than 5 percent are recovered for recycling.