DENVER — In 2023, Boulder-based recycling center Eco-Cycle estimated that Colorado used at least 1.5 billion fewer single-use plastic bags than the previous year.
While Eco-Cycle did not provide an updated estimate, they say that number is likely even higher after a statewide ban went into effect in 2024.
McCall Phoenix just left a job working for a Denver grocery store.
“Working in customer service in a grocery store, I could see there was a lot of anger towards [the ban], honestly,” Phoenix said of the plastic bag ban. “Maybe just where I worked, the paper bags weren’t great quality. So you would get a lot of people with broken bags.”
Phoenix and other shoppers are still getting used to the change and bringing reusable bags to the store to avoid paying a ten-cent fee for each paper bag.
“I never used to bring reusable bags, even a year into this,” Phoenix said. “Two months ago, I figured it out.”
Some still wonder how much the move is really helping the environment.
“I think it was a smart move,” Phoenix said of the ban. “It needed to happen eventually. But I do think part of it is for show, for sure.”