Dear Action Line: My observation is that our community has adapted pretty well to the new bag laws. Like many other folks, I take reusable bags shopping. The 10-cent plastic bag fee hasn’t ruined my life … yet. I assume grocery stores experienced a significant reduction in the number of plastic bags used, yet checkout stations are set up for the throwaway kind. The design of the bag holders and the base makes for an uneven, crowded space for reusable bags. Can you convince the mega stores to cut the space for plastic bags in half and dedicate the remaining area to us environmentally minded (and cheap) tree huggers? It's also a safety issue. A bag of granola fell to the floor on my last shopping adventure and nearly crushed my foot. – Marvin Bagley
Dear Marvin: Just to catch everyone up, in 2021 the Colorado Legislature levied a 10-cent (minimum) fee on single-use plastic bags. This went into effect as 2023 began. Life was so easy and uncomplicated on Dec. 31. And then came Jan. 1 …
Is it difficult to remember to bring reusable bags into the store with you? Maybe, but look, kids, you’ve been forced to recall all sorts of rituals since childhood:
- Remembering to tie your shoes before walking in them.
- Bringing your glove when mom or dad took you to softball or baseball practice.
- Removing the needed textbooks from your school locker on Friday afternoons.
- Paying monthly rent and utility bills. (OK, you can cheat now and automate some of these tasks.)
- Grabbing your shopping list and wallet/purse before exiting the car to grocery shop. And, snatching those reusable bags off the back seat.
This is sort of off subject, but Action Line still has panic-stricken nightmares about not being able to find the right classroom at Everitt Junior High as the bell rings. In defense, that was a wacky-shaped building.
As often happens, we haven’t even started to answer the questions.
Can Action Line convince mega stores to cut space for plastic bags on the loading area? Well, even for seemingly all-powerful Action Line that’s unlikely. Requests for comment (and action) from one mega store went unanswered.
But here’s the thing: The clock is ticking on grocery and other stores that provide plastic bags to customers. They can only do this until the end of 2023. At that point, they CAN’T offer plastic bags. At that point, the store “may furnish only a recycled paper carryout bag to a customer” – for 10 cents each, or a higher fee if the local government chooses. (Reportedly, all Walmart stores have already made this switch.)
On Jan. 1, 2024, those funky, curved metal rods that are fine for holding plastic bags will all be obsolete. It might be a long eight-plus months from now, but loading area space will thus, assumedly, undergo a transformation by necessity.
If you want to take a deeper dive on how this fee is administered, visit https://tax.colorado.gov/carryout-bag-fee. (As of April 1, 2024, stores will keep 40% of the bag fees. The remaining 60% will go to the local government for “administrative and enforcement costs and any recycling, composting, or other waste diversion programs or related outreach or education activities.” And yada, yada, yada.)
No statistics are available yet for the decrease in plastic bag use since Jan. 1, but two other Colorado communities that previously imposed a bag fee found usage dropped by about 85%, according to The Colorado Sun.
For you tax-and-spend liberals out there, this 10-cent “plastic bag tax” may seem like a great deal. However, just be aware that, simultaneously this year, a state tax on feminine hygiene products and diapers was eliminated – an estimated $11 million tax loss for Colorado. So, it looks like an overall tax wash for you. Sorry about that.
And sorry, too, about the granola. Ouch.
A couple weeks ago, Action Line had an item about the difficulty of seeing where to turn off State Highway 172 onto County Road 302 when coming from Durango/La Plata airport at night. Turns out there are others, coming from a different direction, who want to shine a light on that intersection.
“Total agreement on this one,” commented one reader. “You have another turnout for the Cowboy Church coming from Elmore’s Corner. In the dark it’s deceiving as to where the turn onto CR 302 is!”
Email questions and suggestions to actionline@durangoherald.com or mail them to Action Line, The Durango Herald, 1275 Main Ave., Durango, CO 81301. There’s dog hair all over Action Line’s reusable cloth bags, a bit of mud and probably some bike lube. So, people actually wash them?
