Starting January 1, consumers and many businesses in Delaware will no longer be able to use or distribute single-use plastic carryout bags at the point-of-sale. In 2019, the Delaware General Assembly passed a law banning plastic bags to help reduce beach and roadside litter, save landfill space, increase recycling efforts, and help prevent recycling facilities from having to shut down when plastic bags get stuck in machinery. The law allows retailers to choose to offer paper bags, cloth bags, or a thicker type of reusable plastic bag as well as charge a fee for bags provided at point-of-sale.
“Each Delawarean uses about 434 plastic bags [each year], and that means nearly 2,400 tons of plastic bags end up in our landfills annually,” said Delaware Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Control Secretary Shawn Garvin. Delaware DNREC urges consumers to bring reusable bags to stores and to clean/disinfect those bags between uses.
For more details, see DNREC’s website.
