Paper or Plastic: More Washington Cities Are Saying “No Thanks!”

Erik Wallin
June 20, 2014

This blog was last updated on June 27, 2021

In an effort to combat the often devastating effect of unnecessary litter and protect clean waterways and wildlife, several localities around the state of Washington have turned to plastic bag bans and fees on single use paper bags to encourage the use of reusable shopping bags. The majority of Washington localities with single use bag laws and regulations are located around the Puget Sound area, most notably Seattle and Bellingham. The city of Edmonds, WA was the first in the state to impose a ban on plastic bags. Following the example set by Edmonds, the city of Bellingham enacted a similar plastic bag ban with some key distinctions. Chief among these being the inclusion of a $0.05 Fee on single use paper bags charged to the purchaser at the point of sale. The 2011 “Single Use Carry Out Baggrocery bags background Ordinance” No. 2011-07-034 enacted by the city of Bellingham, WA is important due to the fact that it has been used as the model for most of the new local plastic bag laws and regulations in the state of Washington. The key elements of the Bellingham law and those that follow the Bellingham model include:

  • Customers must be charged $0.05 per large paper bag.
  • Single-use plastic carry out bags are prohibited.
  • Paper bags must be made of at least 40% recycled materials

As of June 12, 2014 the following local jurisdictions in Washington have enacted plastic bag bans which include a $0.05 fee: Bainbridge Island, Bellingham, Issaquah, Lacey, Mukilteo, Olympia, Port Townsend, Seattle, Shoreline, Tumwater and, the County of Thurston (unincorporated areas only). Looking towards the future, it is reasonable to expect similar fees to be enacted in more cities around the state of Washington.

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Author

Erik Wallin

Erik Wallin is a Senior Tax Counsel on the Tax Research Team at Sovos Compliance. Erik has been with Sovos Compliance since 2011, and his main areas of focus are on U.S. Transaction Tax Law which includes special expertise in the taxation of technology and the taxation mechanisms that apply throughout the Colorado home rule jurisdictions. Erik is a member of the Massachusetts Bar, has a B.A. from York College of Pennsylvania, a J.D. from New England School of Law, and an LL.M. in Taxation from Boston University.
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