Single-use plastic bags and foam takeout containers would be banned under Colorado bill

Editor's note: This story was originally published by Colorado Newsline. Read the original story here.

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A group of Colorado Democrats and environmental advocates hope 2021 will be the year they can pass a statewide ban on single-use plastic bags and foam containers.

Reps. Lisa Cutter of Dakota Ridge and Alex Valdez of Denver, both Democrats, plan to sponsor the legislation in the Colorado General Assembly this year. A draft of the bill wasn’t available by Thursday, and the lawmakers said they were still working out the specifics — like methods of enforcement and the timeline for businesses to get into compliance.

The production of plastic releases toxic greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, said Hannah Collazo, state director of advocacy group Environment Colorado.

“We see plastic litter our streets. We see plastic litter our public lands and our parks, but what we usually do not see is plastic’s impact on our climate,” Collazo said at a Tuesday virtual news conference announcing the upcoming bill. Collazo said Environment Colorado had collected 41,000 petition signatures from Coloradans across the state calling for more restrictions on single-use plastics.

While legislators have tried in the past to pass statewide restrictions on single-use plastics, this effort would go further by also allowing cities and counties to implement their own bans, as long as they are at least as strict as the state’s.

“One of the main reasons I became a legislator was to leave the world a little better for our children,” Cutter said at the news conference. “My own children are concerned about the planet … Children shouldn’t have to carry that kind of worry.”

“Less than 10% of plastic ever made has been recycled, and only 30% of the plastic made is currently in use,” Cutter added.

Should the legislation pass, Colorado would join eight other states that have banned single-use plastic bags, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Still, the bill’s supporters encountered national pushback within days of announcing their plans.

Consumer Choice Center, a Washington, D.C.-based group that advocates against state and federal product regulations, sent out a Wednesday press release opposing the legislation, arguing that banning plastic bags would lead to alternatives that were more environmentally harmful.

The group cited a 2017 Denmark study that found paper bags would have to be reused 43 times to have the same environmental impact as a plastic bag. Cotton reusable bags would have to be reused more than 7,000 times, the researchers found. (That study has some notable limitations.)

“Rather than enacting a bag ban, state legislators should focus their efforts on reclaiming plastic bags,” David Clement, North American affairs manager for Consumer Choice Center, said in the statement. “A focus on reclaiming plastic would allow for innovative advanced recycling processes to be implemented, like chemical depolymerization, which keeps plastic waste in the economy and out of the environment.”

But during the news conference, Randy Moorman — director of legislative and community campaigns at Eco-Cycle — said many types of plastics currently can’t be recycled.

“The biggest challenge is that there are not enough companies buying recycled plastics to make them into new products,” said Moorman, who supports the legislation. “Additionally, plastics are very costly to collect and separate for recycling.”

Bill supporter and Telluride restaurant owner Megan Ossola said that while a paper cup typically costs her between 1 and 2 cents more than a plastic foam cup, it’s easier now than in the past for businesses to make more sustainable choices.

“Where polystyrene used to be the only inexpensive option for carryout, this just is not the case anymore,” Ossola said at the news conference. “As COVID and the takeout needs sort of dwindle, we are in a great time right now to sort of capitalize on the increase in production from a lot of the paper product companies, and I think that the difference in price will go down as the competition for our business increases.”

Colorado Newsline is part of States Newsroom, a network of news outlets supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Colorado Newsline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Quentin Young for questions: [email protected]. Follow Colorado Newsline on Facebook and Twitter.