Consumers and some businesses in Delaware can no longer use or distribute single-use plastic carryout bags at the point-of-sale as of January 1, except in the case of bait.
Plastic carryout bags are commonly used to take items home from convenience, grocery and other retail stores. The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) urges consumers to bring reusable bags to stores instead and to clean/disinfect those bags between uses.
Retailers can choose to offer paper bags, or cloth bags, or a thicker type of plastic bag that is designed to be reusable. The law allows retail stores to charge a fee for the bags they provide at point of sale. Also exempted from the new law are plastic bags used to contain or wrap frozen foods, meat or fish, flowers or potted plants, or other items to contain dampness.
Under the law, plastic carryout bags will no longer be available from larger stores (more than 7,000 square feet) as well as smaller stores with at least three locations in Delaware of 3,000 square feet each or more. Supermarkets and big-box stores are affected, as well as chains of convenience stores. Restaurants are not subject to the ban, nor are small stores with one or two locations.
The ban is designed to reduce beach and roadside litter, save landfill space, increase recycling efforts and help recycling facilities from having to shut down when plastic bags get stuck in the machinery. House Bill 130 implementing the ban was sponsored by 12 legislators led by Rep. Gerald Brady and Sen. Trey Paradee, and was passed in 2019 and signed by Gov. John Carney. Consumers and retailers can find more information at de.gov/bags.
New Jersey’s statewide prohibition on the use of single-use plastic bags will not go into effect until May of 2022.
