Back in 2013, Boulder put an imposed 10 cent per bag fee on all paper and plastic grocery bags. The bag fee did what it was suppose to do, reduce usage. In fact, bag usage dropped 69% which is huge.

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However, that number has not changed over the past two years and now Boulder is contemplating on raising the fee to 20 cents, which would double the current bag fee. “It’s just not doing much anymore,” said Jamie Harkins, who is the Boulder sustainability coordinator in an article in the Denver Post. “A lot of communities see an initial little drop and then it grows. We had a much bigger initial reduction in bag use but it kind of stayed there.”

Boulder will not be able to raise the bag fees to any higher than 20 cents as it would not be legal to set a fee based off desired behavioral changes. Additionally, Colorado state law cannot prohibit the use or sale of plastic materials or products. Which means plastic grocery bags and Styrofoam containers cannot be banned.

 

What do you think of the imposed raise in bag fees? Do you think all of Northern Colorado would benefit with a bag fee such as this?

 

Source: Denver Post

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