Washington Reusable Bag Act

Washington state passed legislation to eliminate single-use carryout bags.  This bill allows retailers — including grocers — to provide paper bags or reusable, plastic film 2.25 mil bags for 8 cents each. The reusable bags must meet standards for strength, durability and recycled content. The 8-cent pass-through charge will help retailers recover the costs of the paper or durable plastic bags and create an incentive for shoppers to bring their own bags. In 2026, the allowed plastic film bags would increase in thickness from 2.25 to 4 mil and the pass-through charge would increase to 12 cents. The bill passed in March 2020 with strong bi-partisan support by a vote of 67-29 in the House, and a concurrence vote of 35-15 in the Senate, and Governor Jay Inslee signed the bill into law on March 25th, 2020. The bill will take effect on January 1st, 2021

Single-use plastics are polluting our environment and harming wildlife in the ocean, in rivers, and on our surrounding lands. Washington residents use and estimated 2 billion single-use plastic bags every year, and fewer than 6% of them get recycled.  Plastic has been documented in nearly 700 species of marine life, including gray whales found washed up on the shores of the Salish Sea. Plastic bags also cause operational and contamination problems at recycling and compost facilities by clogging machinery.

Surfrider Foundation Washington Chapters have been addressing the impacts of marine debris for many years, leading hundreds of beach cleanups, and working on source reduction policies by supporting local plastic bag bans in various communities. Surfrider worked closely with a coalition partners including Environment Washington, Puget Soundkeeper, Seattle Aquarium, Zero Waste Washington, as well as the Washington Environmental Priorities Coalition. Additionally, the NW Grocers Association, Independent Grocers, hospitality, recycling and composting industry representatives played an instrumental role in helping pass this policy. 

See full write up here: https://www.surfrider.org/coastal-blog/entry/washington-state-becomes-most-recent-state-to-ban-plastic-bags