Last summer, we reported that Hawaii became the first of our fifty states to ban the use of plastic grocery bags. Since then, many other potential bag bans have made news—most at the local level—but none have achieved the profile of Hawaii’s statewide ban.
Now, in response to the many cities and states attempting to ban plastic grocery bags, several states are considering laws that ban the bans.
According to a recent Plastics News article, Arizona is leading the most aggressive effort to ban bag bans, with Gov. Douglas Ducey signing three laws into effect over the past year. The first one barred “any municipality from regulating the sale or use of single-use plastic bags as well as foam containers, boxes, cans and bottles,” but was the target of a lawsuit. After the bill was modified, the governor signed the new version into law without issue. The third law, which the governor just signed this month, “says any state legislator can ask the attorney general’s office to investigate whether a local ordinance or policy is contrary to state law. It could put Bisbee, the only municipality in Arizona to have a bag ban on the books, in the crosshairs, since Bisbee officials say the new state law banning regulation of plastic bags does not apply to its ordinance.”
Missouri recently attempted to ban bag bans as well, but the bill was vetoed by Gov. Jay Nixon because, according to the same Plastics News article, it also attempted “to bar cities from setting a minimum wage.” Other states with proposed bans on bag bans include Idaho, Indiana, and Wisconsin.
As we’ve mentioned before, these types of bans don’t affect our products specifically, but we find them newsworthy because they impact a closely related industry. We’ll continue to keep you updated on issues like these and more.
If you have any questions about this topic or anything else at all, please let us know. As always, thank you for your continued business, and we look forward to serving you.