Connecticut is the latest state to adopt legislation resulting in the eventual ban on single use plastic bags! Starting August 1, 2019 a 10 cent fee will be charged for each single us plastic bag that you use. This fee will end in 2021 when single us plastic bags become fully banned.

We have noticed that many stores, in my local area in Connecticut, have stopped offering single use plastic bags because of this fee. This is a step in the right direction, even if it is financially motivated and not environmentally motivated. Large grocery stores however have not stopped offering single use plastic bags and have not increased their paper bag inventory or their reusable bag inventory. If this doesn’t change in the very near future, then consumers will be forced to pay the 10 cent fee, which does’t help individual consumers or the environment.

While talking about this issue with a friend of ours, we starting discussing how other states, counties, cities and towns are implementing this ban on single use plastic bags, but also taking it to the next level! More environmentally conscious counties, in states like Washington and Oregon, have also implemented a 5 or 10 cent fee on each paper bag, and Honolulu has gone as far as banning all non reusable bags that are not compostable. Many counties and cities, that have already banned singe use plastic bags, are now putting regulations on how thick a plastic bag must be to consider it reusable, between 2 mils and 4 mils being the minimum thickness.

It seams that getting the vast majority of people on board with helping the environment and reducing our reliance on fossil fuels takes a direct hit at peoples wallets and without it people just turn their heads ignore the scenario. We know we’re not the first people to ask and we’re sure we won’t be the last, but how do we get people to think past the here and now and take a brief look to the future and see all the issues we have coming if we don’t make some simple changes now. How do we help build awareness of the damage that plastic bags are doing to the oceans and to marine life? How do we help people see that the disposal of plastic bags ends up as a fire burning the Ozone and polluting people lungs whom it’s their job to burn the debris?

As the beginning of the end of single use plastic bags continues, we will keep our fingers crossed that people will say “hey, I don’t like this hitting my wallet, let me find an alternative that is better for my wallet and better for the environment while I’m at it”.

Thank you for reading and sharing our post!

Melissa, Matt, Owen, Lyca and Doc