Washington lawmakers push competing bills to ban plastic bags, reduce bag fee

OLYMPIA – Two weeks after the state increased the fee for reusable plastic bags, lawmakers are considering competing legislation that would either reduce the fee and reintroduce thinner, single-use plastic grocery bags or ban plastic bags from store checkouts altogether.

State Sen. Jessica Bateman, D-Olympia, introduced a bill that would increase the fee for paper bags from 8 cents to 20 cents, ban plastic bags at checkout, add penalties for bag manufacturers or distributors that violate the law and exempt those who use food stamp programs from the fee.

The ban would take effect on Jan. 1, 2028.

Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia, meanwhile, wants to cut the fee for plastic bags back to eight cents, repeal a requirement for retailers to use thicker plastic bags and allow film plastic bags to be used if they meet minimum recycled content standards.

The proposals, both heard in the Senate Environment, Energy, and Technology committee on Wednesday, follow a recent Washington State University study that called into question the effectiveness of a law aimed at reducing waste from single-use bags.

Passed by the Legislature in 2020, the law seeks to encourage shoppers to either reuse the same bag for multiple visits or purchase a more durable reusable grocery bag, thereby reducing plastic waste. Since October 2021, customers who do not bring their own bags to the store must pay a fee for a reusable plastic grocery bag or a paper bag at checkout.

Beginning Jan. 1, the rate charged to shoppers for plastic bags increased from 8 cents to 12 cents. The fee for paper bags remained at 8 cents.

The money collected from these fees is retained by the retailer, though the fee is subject to state and local sales tax.

The law mirrors similar legislation in other states, including California, Oregon and Connecticut.

According to a WSU study released last fall, though, consumers are not reusing the same plastic bag frequently enough to account for the increased bag thickness.

The study found that, to be effective, the number of plastic bags used today would have to be 78% percent lower than what was used prior to the law’s adoption, in part because the new bags are 4.5 times thicker than the bags previously used and use 4.45 times more plastic.

The number of plastic bags used between 2021 and 2022 only decreased by 50%, while the total plastic used by weight increased by 17% during this period, according to the WSU study.

As they published the report, the state departments of Commerce and Ecology attached a four-page memo evaluating the study.

In their response, the agencies said the finding was based on limited data. The memo also stated that plastic bag distributors declined to share data on bag sales.

During her testimony, Bateman said her proposal “builds on really great work that the Legislature has done in previous years” and would model similar changes made in Oregon and California. The changes, Bateman said, would reduce plastic waste and have potential health effects from decreased microplastic waste in the environment.

“This is a way that we can eliminate an unnecessary source of plastic that breaks down in our environment,” Bateman said.

Among those who testified against the bill was Molly Pfaffenroth, who represented the Washington Food Industry Association. During her testimony, Pfaffenroth said the state should wait to see the effect of the recent increase before banning plastic bags altogether.

“We believe that this next year will be a great opportunity to analyze the impact of the fee increase on consumer behavior,” Pfaffenroth said.

Crystal Leatherman, director of policy and government affairs for the Washington Retail Association, expressed similar concerns.

“We haven’t even allowed time for data to be collected to see how consumer behavior and trends change with these fee increases,” said Leatherman, who suggested the state consider a public information campaign or incentive program to encourage the use of reusable bags.

Not all retailers were opposed the ban, however.

Mike Wenrick, who testified on behalf of PCC Markets, said the bill would be a “first step in removing plastic from our environment.” PCC Community Markets have 16 locations in the Seattle area.

“In the grocery environment, the plastic bags at checkout are just scratching the surface. We have bread bags, deli rounds, produce, a lot of plastic in produce,” Wernick said. “The customer comment we get the most is folks getting angry about how much plastic, despite our best interests, that we have in our stores.”