Three years after requiring retailers to cost for disposable baggage, Denver has collected $5.76 million, though the expansion charge of that quantity is anticipated to taper off.
Town mentioned it has spent almost $1 million of that, and a survey underway will assist direct the place the rest of the cash goes.
Denver began requiring retailers to cost 10 cents per disposable bag in July 2021. Retailers maintain 4 cents of every bag to cowl the price of compliance, and the remaining six cents go to Denver’s Workplace of Local weather Motion, Sustainability and Resilience.
Denver’s legislation was adopted by an analogous one statewide, which banned single-use plastic baggage as of this January, though retailers have been allowed to make use of up pre-existing inventory by way of Might. Retailers are nonetheless allowed to supply non-plastic baggage for the price.
The state legislation has particular exemptions, resembling for retailers with lower than three shops, which municipalities can select to make stricter. Denver’s price is required for all retail shops irrespective of the scale.
Final 12 months, 31.8 million disposable baggage have been reported to the town, down from 37.25 million the earlier 12 months.
“We’ve seen a decline of about 5 million (plastic) baggage used. That’s the goal of this price, to encourage people to convey their very own baggage as an alternative of buying a brand new disposable bag each time they buy groceries,” mentioned Natalie Lana, disposable bag price program administrator within the Denver local weather workplace.
Denver bag price collections peaked in 2022, when the town took in $2.37 million — which doesn’t embody the 4 cents per bag stored by retailers. The determine dropped under $2 million final 12 months. Via the primary three months of 2024, Denver collected $330,000 — on tempo for about $1.32 million yearly.
Town mentioned 157 citations have been issued to companies for failing to adjust to the bag price for the reason that program started. Citations begin at $150.
Of the $5.76 million complete collected, roughly $950,000 has been spent, in response to the town, with about $487,000 going towards schooling and administration of this system.
The remaining has been spent on three packages run by the workplace. Reuse Denver Incentives, which has value about $100,000, affords small retail meals companies as much as $600 price of reusable service ware, resembling plates, cups and cutlery. A reusable cup program, which has value $19,000, has aimed to assist giant occasions change from disposable cups to reusable ones.
This system getting probably the most funds has been reusable bag giveaways — occasions hosted by the workplace the place residents can swap plastic baggage they’ve saved for a reusable bag created by Mile Excessive Workshop from previous, disposed advertising and marketing supplies. The plastic baggage are then was out of doors furnishings by Trex. Since 2021, the town has spent over $413,000 on this system.
“It’s an ideal instance of the round neighborhood in Denver as a result of it’s supporting neighborhood members, reusing native supplies and offering one thing for the neighborhood,” Lana mentioned.
As for the roughly $4.8 million sitting within the metropolis’s fund? Town is asking Denver residents to fill out a survey to determine the place that cash ought to go. Choices embody funding water bottle refill stations in public locations, funding neighborhood cleanup occasions and persevering with the give attention to offering reusable baggage.
The survey wants between 500 and 1,000 respondents for the workplace to make a transparent choice, mentioned Chelsea Warren, a spokeswoman for the local weather workplace.
Lana mentioned up to now, the survey reveals that residents are conscious of the disposable bag price and select to make use of reusable baggage for environmental and sustainability causes, not purely because of the price.
“Persons are actually supportive of offering funding for packages to mitigate the results of single-use waste on the setting,” Lana mentioned.
With the statewide ban on plastic baggage and the decline in collections since 2021, the workplace may need to ultimately look elsewhere to fund its packages. Town’s Local weather Safety Fund doesn’t embody zero-waste efforts, mentioned Warren, the bag price program administrator.
“We at all times knew this is able to be non permanent, and the aim was to encourage individuals to make use of reusable baggage,” Warren mentioned.
This story was reported by our accomplice BusinessDen.