Puebloans had to adjust in 2023 when grocery stores began to charge for single-use plastic bags and may have to take it a step further in 2024.

As of Jan. 1, Colorado retail stores and food establishments are prohibited from providing single-use plastic carryout bags to customers. It’s the next step in a state law that Gov. Jared Polis signed in 2021 that seeks to reduce the “harmful effects on the state’s resources and natural environment.”

There are exceptions, however. The law does not apply to eateries and small stores that have three or fewer locations in Colorado or to people who participate in a federal or state food assistance program. It also doesn’t apply if a plastic carryout bag is used to package pharmaceutical drugs, medical devices, dietary supplements, or any similar equipment or material used to manufacture those items.

“Stores,” according to the bill’s language, include supermarkets, clothing shops, and convenience, liquor and grocery stores. They also include farmers and roadside markets, and other temporary vendors such as stands at festivals or events.

Also as of Monday, restaurants and other retail food establishments can’t provide polystyrene or Styrofoam products that are typically used as take-out containers. However, they can use them until their supply is exhausted if they purchased them before that date.

Can customers still pay 10 cents for a carryout bag next year?

Not if it’s a plastic carryout bag. However, stores can offer paper carryout bags to customers who request them, but they will need to pay 10 cents per bag.

Stores at the start of this year continued to offer plastic carryout bags but charged 10 cents apiece to use them. The law, in part, sought to encourage people to bring reusable bags when visiting a grocery store. Some stores sold their own versions of reusable bags when the law went into effect.

In 2021, Fort Collins implemented its own ordinance that charged a fee for paper bags. The city saw a significant reduction in their use several months after stores began to charge the fee.

Denver also adopted a plastic bag fee that went into effect in 2021.

Pueblo to start collecting carryout bag fee revenue in April 2024

The city of Pueblo last year adopted an ordinance that allows the city to enforce, collect and remit the bag fees. The ordinance also required stores to maintain records of how many plastic or recycled carryout bags are provided to customers, which is similar to how Fort Collins tracked customers’ month-to-month usage.

Beginning April 1, 2024, stores on a quarterly basis must pay 60% of the fee revenues to the municipality in which the store is located but can keep the rest. Fees that Pueblo stores collected during 2023 must be paid to the city no later than April 20, 2024.

Cities can use the bag fee revenue to pay for administrative and enforcement costs and any waste-diversion programs. Pueblo City Council approved an ordinance in a unanimous vote on Dec. 26 that establishes a special revenue fund and allows the city to budget and appropriate the revenue.

The city isn’t yet sure how it will disburse the funds because it doesn’t know the amount of revenue it will receive when payments are due, said Haley Sue Robinson, the city’s director of public affairs. There have been discussions, however, about allocating the funds to the city’s RecycleWorks service, she said.

Pueblo city councilors will have the option to introduce an ordinance that is stricter than the state’s plastic bag ban. Municipalities can do so starting July 1, 2024.

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Chieftain reporter Josue Perez can be reached at JHPerez@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @josuepwrites. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Colorado plastic bag ban to be stricter in 2024. Here’s what to know