Beginning Jan. 1, 2023, the state will require businesses and retail food establishments with more than three locations in Colorado to charge customers a $0.10 fee for each single-use plastic and paper bag used at the point of sale. The State of Colorado passed House Bill 21-1162 in 2021, also known as the Plastic Pollution Reduction Act, which institutes a bag fee on carryout bags in Colorado.
Between January 1, 2023 and January 1, 2024, a store may furnish a recycled paper carryout bag or a single-use plastic carryout bag to a customer at the point of sale if the customer pays a fee of 10 cents per bag. Beginning January 1, 2024, a store may furnish only a recycled paper carryout bag to a customer at the point of sale at a fee of 10 cents per bag and prohibits businesses and retail food establishments from providing single-use plastic carryout bags to customers.
Certain retail food establishments, and small businesses that operate solely in Colorado and have three or fewer locations, may provide single-use plastic carryout bags. Additionally, the carryout bag fee does not apply to a customer that provides evidence to the store that the customer is a participant in a federal or state food assistance program. For additional exemptions, visit www.brightonco.gov/bagfee.
Beginning Jan. 1, 2024, the act prohibits a retail food establishment from distributing an expanded polystyrene product (more commonly known as Styrofoam™) for use as a container for ready-to-eat food in this state.
The State of Colorado requires any store located in the City of Brighton begin charging the 10 cent bag fee on every bag starting January 1, 2023. The store is entitled to retain 4 cents of the bag fee revenue, and must remit the remaining 6 cents to the City of Brighton on a quarterly basis. Businesses also have the option of not providing any single-use bags.
For more information about the carryout bag fee visit www.brightonco.gov/bagfee.
Original source can be found here.