What you need to know about Washington’s plastic bag ban
SPOKANE, Wash.–A ban on single-use plastic bags goes into effect in Washington on Friday.
If you don’t have your own bag, you’ll need to pay eight cents for a recyclable one at the store. The ban applies to grocery stores, restaurants, retail, and small vendors.
The ban was set to go into effect in January of this year, but the pandemic put it on hold.
The state says the reason for the ban is because they are bad for the environment
Sunset Grocery, a convenience store in Browne’s Addition says it already started making the switch.
“People aren’t too happy about it because we have to ask them, “do you want a bag?” There’s an eight-cent charge, so we’re constantly having to tell people and update them on new laws that are coming about just because of this plastic ban now. There’s a lot of people who would generally walk out with their stuff nowadays than have a bag just for the purpose of not getting charged for it,” Sunset Grocery clerk Sergio Martinez said.
Martinez says he noticed customers started asking for more bags after they were informed a charge for them was coming soon.
One man we talked to says he supports the new rule.
“Plastic that doesn’t go away, paper goes away if you have a paper bag it’s not going to be around for ten years or 20 years, so I kind of like the paper. It’s not to say I haven’t used a lot of plastic,” Spokane resident Douglas Dixon said.
PREVIOUS: Gov. Inslee signs Washington plastic bag ban into law
COPYRIGHT 2022 BY KXLY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
