Washington banned thin, single-use plastic shopping bags in 2021. But since then, the state has seen an increase in plastics used for retail transactions. That’s due to a loophole allowing thicker plastic bags.
A proposal to fix this will go before lawmakers in January. The legislation was pre-filed in the House and Senate last month, and the first hearings are scheduled for Jan. 14 and 15.
When the statewide ban on the disposable plastic bags passed in 2020, the thicker bags were to be made with increasing amounts of recycled plastics — part of a compromise to continue allowing plastic bags. By law they must be designed to last for a minimum of 125 uses. But utilities monitoring the flow of plastics through the waste stream say that more often, they’re thrown away like disposables…