Snohomish City Council passes plastic bag ban

The Snohomish City Council passed a law on Wednesday that will ban single-use plastic bags and will require retailers to charge customers for paper bags.

RELATED: Bill proposes statewide ban on single-use plastic bags
RELATED: Does plastic bag ban do more harm than good?

The law will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2020 and customers will be charged 10 cents for paper bags.

“It is the option that best balances and reconciles the economic impacts to the retailers and the consumer, provides substantial benefit to the environment, and provides for a reasonable amount of fairness between the retailer, the consumer and the government,” Council President Jason Sanders said in a news release.

A similar ban in Seattle went into effect in 2012.

“This ordinance is also consistent with the proposed plastic bag restrictions at the state level,” Sanders said.

n November 2018, Washington lawmakers introduced the Resauble Bag Bill that is designed to ban single-use plastic bags at the state level. Click here to read about the status of House Bill 1205.

The law was drafted after community members expressed their concerns to the Snohomish City Council on the long-term negative impacts plastic bags, straws and utensils can have on the environment.

“This bag ban provides a grace period of 9 months so retailers can use up their bag inventories,” Councilmember Lynn Schilaty said. “It will also give retailers time to develop implementation and compliance strategies, and train their employees.”

Those interested in acquiring more information about the ban are asked to contact Wendy Poischbeg at wpoischbeg@snohomishwa.gov or (360) 282-3176.