Consumers and some businesses in Delaware will no longer be able to use or distribute single-use plastic carryout bags at the point-of-sale starting January 1. Plastic carryout bags are commonly used to take items home from convenience, grocery and other retail stores. The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control urges consumers to bring reusable bags to stores instead and to clean/disinfect those bags between uses.
The ban is designed to reduce beach and roadside litter, save landfill space, increase recycling efforts and help recycling facilities from having to shut down when plastic bags get stuck in the machinery.
“Each Delawarean uses about 434 plastic bags and that means nearly 2,400 tons of plastic bags end up in our landfills annually,” said DNREC Secretary Shawn Garvin. “A decrease by the public of plastic carryout bags can mitigate a large portion of this waste, and help our environment by reducing the amount plastic bags on our roads and waterways that can harm us and our wildlife.”
House Bill 130 implementing the ban was sponsored by 12 legislators led by Rep. Gerald Brady and Sen. Trey Paradee, and was passed in 2019 and signed by Gov. John Carney.
Retailers can choose to offer paper bags, or cloth bags, or a thicker type of plastic bag that is designed to be reusable. The law allows retail stores to charge a fee for the bags they provide at point of sale. DNREC advises consumers to wash or disinfect their reusable bags by turning them inside out and wiping them down with a disinfecting agent after each use.
Under the law, plastic carryout bags will no longer be available from larger stores (more than 7,000 square feet) as well as smaller stores with at least three locations in Delaware of 3,000 square feet each or more. Supermarkets and big-box stores are affected, as well as chains of convenience stores. Restaurants are not subject to the ban, nor are small stores with one or two locations.
All retail stores affected by the law are required to provide an At-Store Recycling program for plastic bags and other specific plastics, like cereal box liners, newspaper sleeves, and single-use produce or meat bags. The drop-off locations should be visible and accessible within the store. Bags that are no longer reusable or unwanted should be recycled at these locations. Plastic bags should not be placed in carts that are part of the state’s curbside recycling program but should instead be returned to stores for recycling.
Consumers and retailers can find more information at de.gov/bags .
it probably takes 434 of those plastic bags to make that fake green tote
Unless your tote is cotton cloth, it makes no difference and is not reducing waste
And wasn’t it a bad idea to take your reusable tote into the store to get covided all over?
Here we go again. Take a look at country of origin on the reusable back. China.
Bring your bag
Clean your bag
Wear a mask
Don’t double park or shamed on internet
Six feet apart but one foot shoulder to shoulder
Don’t speak
Don’t buy more then two items
Do NOT LOOK lost for item that could be perceived as spending to much time
Wash your hands before and after per video on CNN
If you have a vaccine it DOESN’T MATTER because the collective doesn’t no that so wear a mask anyway.
Do not drive a gas car to the store solo. please car pool and sell your vehicle. It’s about the collective not individual. Thank you more rules coming. Remember we are watching.
Man, you need help.
I am fine with it. I grew up using paper bags which had other uses like covering my school books.
When I shop at Trader Joe’s, they use paper bags and the bags have handles.
I carry bins in the back of my truck so I am fine with no bagging at all and just putting the groceries
in the bins like I do now.
Paper bags also make great fire starters for my fire pit or Charcoal grill.
I don’t see this as a hardship at all.
You really want to save land fill space then make small appliances repairable like they use to be. Today your toaster, iron or blender go up, throw it out and buy a new one “they are cheap”! Cheap in quality and reliability!!
More enviro-communism!
Delaware continues to Own the Lower, Slower title!
For 9 months we’ve been beaten over the head to kill germs, avoid germs, sanitize anything within reach. Delaware’s 2019 law was overkill, but in light of Covid it’s reckless and puts people at risk. The notion that people will sanitize their reusable sacks is fanciful; Carney & crew must have found part of Hunter’s stash.
Let customers have a choice; those favoring paper can ask for it; those who prefer the light duty plastic can opt for it, and those who want to drag their crummy reusables around can endanger all the rest.
This reg should not go into effect until the end of Biteme’s second term! Wake up, Delaware!!