Lauren Boothe, Law & Public Policy Scholar, JD Anticipated May 2021
Philadelphia City Council recently passed a bill banning single-use plastic bags in City limits. The ban comes after more than a decade of unsuccessful efforts by Councilman Mark Squilla to bring such a ban to Philadelphia, with the current iteration of the bag ban bill introduced on June 20, 2019, but amended on the floor on December 5, 2019. The December amendment was meant to remove the proposed 15-cent fee that would have been charged for each single-use bag provided for customers. The fee was removed after other Councilmembers expressed their discomfort, fearing that the fee would have a disproportionate impact on low-income Philadelphians. However, environmental groups opposed removal of the fee, arguing that behavior regarding plastic bags will not change without it. Ultimately, however, the opposition was ignored, and the fee was cut in order to get the bill passed.
The bill is scheduled to take effect on July 2, 2020. The late 2020 effective date is due in part to the expiring Pennsylvania state law that prohibits cities from passing local laws banning plastic bags. The bill, if it goes into effect, will amend the Philadelphia City Code, adding Chapter 9-4500: “Prohibition On Use Of Certain Bags By Retail Establishment.” The bill defines “Retail Establishment” as “a location where food or other products are offered to the public for direct sale or delivery to a customer, including but not limited to the following: supermarket, convenience store, service station, department store, dollar store, clothing store, restaurant, food truck, farmers’ market or delivery service.” There is included an explicit exemption only for drycleaners.
The bill does not, however, ban all single-use plastic bags; there is a number of exemptions built in to the law. Any bag “inside a retail establishment used by a customer to deliver perishable items to the point of-sale at that establishment, such as: to package bulk items such as fruit, vegetables, nuts, grains, or candy; to contain or wrap meats or fish; to contain unwrapped prepared foods or bakery goods; or to contain or wrap flowers, potted plants, or similar items” is exempted. Additionally, bags “sold in packaging containing multiple bags and packaged at the time of manufacture of the bag,” such as trash bags, are also excluded.
Retailers who opt to provide recyclable paper bags to customers will also be subject to a number of requirements. The paper bag must contain no old growth fiber, contain a minimum of 40% post-consumer recycled content, and visibly display the words “Recyclable” or “Recycled Content” in an easy-to-read font, along with the name of the manufacturer and the percentage of post-consumer recycled content. Furthermore, all “Retail Establishments” are required to post signs at point of sale informing their costumers that “single-use plastic bags” and “non-recyclable paper bags” will no longer be provided. The signage will need to be posted within 30 days of the June 20 effective date and will need to stay up for at least 6 months.
The bill concludes with the institution of a study on bag use. The Philadelphia Office of Sustainability is called upon to “conduct or commission a study of the quantities and frequency of the provision by retail establishments to customers of Single-use Plastic Bags, other plastic bags, non-Recyclable Paper Bags, Recyclable Paper Bags and any other bags before the effective date; six months after the effective date; and one year after the effective date.” The results of the study are to be posted on the City website.