Maybe you’ve been there: You’re at the grocery checkout and they ask you the question. It used to be: “Paper or plastic?” but now in Colorado the question is “How many bags do you want to buy?”

Coloradans have faced this question for nearly a year since the state banned single-use plastic bags. And if you overbought the reusable bags you brought or forgot them in the car, you’ll have to pay for the bags. Ten cents each.

That fee started in January, and a CPR listener asked Colorado Wonders about it. Does the bag fee make money? And where is he going?

Local and state ban

The state’s ban on disposable plastic bags goes into effect in 2024 as part of the Plastic Pollution Reduction Law. The law was passed in 2021 and required large businesses to stop providing single-use plastic carryout bags by January 1.

The fee is not collected or enforced by the Colorado Department of Revenue. That responsibility falls to the municipalities and county government.

“We take a reactive approach. Therefore, we rely on retailers to collect these fees from their customers, and that does not mean that it is within the city’s purview to audit bag fee collections,” said Danny Nunn, acting chief financial officer of the city. city ​​of Pueblo. “But right now, it’s kind of the retailer’s honor system.”

Sixty percent of fee revenue goes to the municipalities and counties where the stores are located. Companies can keep the remaining 40 percent.

Denver had a pretty smooth transition when prohibition spread statewide: the city had a head start. The Denver City Council approved the law to implement the 10-cent fee for single-use plastic bags at the end of 2019. The July 1, 2021.

State bag fee rules exempt small businesses with three or fewer stores from charging the fee. But Denver had already gone one step further.

“Denver’s ordinance has always included small stores. And since state law requires municipalities to implement the policy as strictly or more strictly than state law, we can apply the plastic bag ban to all stores in Denver, regardless of the size or number of locations. ”said Natalie Lana, administrator of the Disposable Bag Fee Program in Denver. Office of Climate Action, Sustainability and Resilience.

How much do local governments collect? How do they use it?

From its share of the bag fee, Denver has earned $697,669 in 2024 and $6.2 million in revenue since the fees were implemented. Aurora has raised $1,661,000 in fees.

Other places like Pueblo do not receive millions of dollars. They only made $300,000 from the fees. Local governments typically recycle their cut into the bag fee program.

“Revenue from disposable bag fees has been used to fund (Denver’s) truly innovative programs to reduce waste, such as helping restaurants transition to reusable food clothing for dine-in services and supporting events at reducing waste through reusable and returnable containers,” said Lana. .

Kevin J. Beaty/Denverita

This includes the Reuse Denver program that helps small restaurants save money by replacing disposable service utensils with reusable food service items, such as plates, bowls, cups or cutlery.

Aurora uses the funds for its shopping cart cleanup initiative and future initiatives, such as city beautification efforts.

How do companies use money?

Businesses also use their share of the fee to promote the program through education and signage.

Chris Howes is the president of the Colorado Retail Council. Since 1998, he has lobbied on behalf of the Retail Council, which represents Colorado’s largest retail and grocery stores and sponsors of the fee bill. Howse said the transition was relatively easy.

“We did everything we could to put up signs and prepare customers before the law was implemented, but here we are as one of those states that bans single-use plastic bags at checkout statewide,” Howes said . “We prepared customers with signage at the point of sale and, of course, we were allowed to work with the existing inventory of plastic bags that the stores had. Of course, not just thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of reusable plastic bags. So that time is over, the transition time is over, and this is the law now.”

Kevin J. Beaty/Denverita

Although law enforcement is not specifically stated in the billHowse said all members of the Retail Council are complying.

“I think that in general it is being fulfilled. I have not heard of anyone saying there is rampant misuse or that state law is not being followed. So I haven’t heard any feedback from customers or members saying this hasn’t gone well,” Howes said. “There are certainly customers who don’t agree with this, but that has nothing to do with retailers following the law that was implemented.”

Some might consider paying a 10-cent fee for something as small as a paper bag to be just another way the government can make some money. That does not apply to this particular rate.

In fact, it does the opposite. Lana said the goal is not to raise more revenue but to reduce the amount of disposable bag use. He said there has been a decrease in revenue because more people are using fewer disposable bags.

“That’s really great and an indicator of success for us. I think we have about 5 million fewer disposable bags each year in Denver because of this program,” Lana said.

It’s safe to say it’s a fee that cities are happy to lose money on as long as it helps the environment.