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Oahu shoppers will have more incentive to remember to take along reusable bags come July 1.
Supermarkets and other retailers, starting next month, will be required to charge at least 15 cents per plastic or paper bag at the checkout counter — the next phase of the city’s efforts to eliminate retail plastic bags.
Honolulu has had a retail standard “T-shirt” plastic bag ban since July 1, 2015, but a loophole allowed for distribution of bags 2.25- thousandths of an inch thick or more. Environmental groups argued that the thicker bags are worse for sea turtles and other ocean creatures.
| BAGS FOR FREE
Oahu shoppers will need to pay 15 cents for every plastic or paper bag they get at supermarkets or other retailers starting July 1. There are a few exceptions for which plastic or paper bags could still distributed to customers for free:
>> Bags used for prepared food, beverages or bakery items, including takeout bags used at restaurants, fast-food establishments and lunch wagons.
>> Bags used to package loose items such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, ground coffee, grains, candies or small hardware items.
>> Bags for containing and wrapping frozen food, meat, fish, flowers or potted plants and other items that could become damp.
>> Bags for prescription medications.
>> Bags for home newspaper delivery.
>> Bags for laundry and dry cleaning.
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An outright ban on retail plastic bags — or at least on those with a thickness of 10-thousandths of an inch or less — won’t kick in until Jan. 1, 2020.
Adrian Hong, president of Island Plastic Bags, said he anticipates many consumers will get sticker shock come July 1 because it’s been a while since the plastic ban issue has been in the news, and some businesses have not begun charging for bags. Mayor Kirk Caldwell signed the bill that became Ordinance 17-37 in July, a few weeks after the Honolulu City Council passed it 9-0.
“Let’s say you’ve got five bags of groceries … it starts to add up,” Hong said.
The city Department of Environmental Services sent notices to more than 10,000 businesses in April reminding them of the upcoming change, and sent a news release to media outlets last week.
Supermarkets and retailers, however, have already been gearing up for the switch, Hong said.
Paul Kosasa, ABC Stores president and CEO, said his Oahu stores will begin charging 15 cents for the thicker plastic bags July 1 “until such time that we run out of them.” After that, customers who don’t have their own bags will need to purchase more eco-friendly, reusable nonplastic bags, he said.
“I don’t think the plastics will be around much longer,” Kosasa said, adding that they cost more than traditional T-shirt bags and “much more” than the 15 cents the stores will be charging. “It’s the cost of doing business,” he said.
Most consumers are responding favorably, he said. While there will be additional costs, “sensitivity to the environment is a lot higher now. … Even my own kids would tell me, ‘Hey man, you should be a little more eco-friendly,’” he said, chuckling.
Maui, Kauai and Hawaii counties have been further along in their implementation of an all-out plastic ban, which gave ABC officials time to prepare for the inevitable switch on Oahu, Kosasa said. Maui and Kauai stores are already issuing woven, nonplastic bags for a fee, and he expects Hawaii County will make the transition in the fall, he said. Oahu stores will remove all plastic bags and issue only the woven ones by the deadline of Jan. 1, 2020, he said.
Foodland, Oahu’s largest locally owned supermarket chain, stopped handing out plastic bags when the first bill went into effect in 2015, and instead has been using brown paper bags. Those who bring their own reusable bags have been getting a 5-cent credit for each, or three Hawaiian Airlines frequent-flyer miles.
That policy will end when the new law kicks in July 1, and Foodland will need to start charging 15 cents per paper bag like everyone else as required under the law, said Sheryl Toda, Foodland’s director of marketing and corporate communications. The chain will begin putting up signs in its stores next week informing customers of the policy change, she said.
“We want to encourage them to remember to bring their reusable bags,” Toda said. She said several related promotional offers will begin next week, including a two-for-$3 deal on Foodland’s stylized, nonplastic bags. For the month of June, customers will also be able to get one of those reusable bags free on Sundays with the purchase of a Sunday Honolulu Star-Advertiser, she said.
Hong, the plastic bag manufacturing executive, said he expects a larger impact when the complete ban takes effect Jan. 1, 2020, when the option to purchase a thicker plastic bag goes away.
For more details on the city’s plastic bag law, go to the Department of Environmental Services tip page at bit.ly/HNLplasticbaglawtipsheet.
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