DENVER (KDVR) — Walmart stores in Colorado have eliminated paper and plastic bags at checkout in response to the state’s new bag law.
The law requires large retailers to charge 10 cents for each paper or plastic bag if a customer doesn’t have anything reusable, and is a move toward a complete plastic bag ban in 2024. It’s a long way.
Instead of charging customers for plastic bags, Walmart is phasing them out entirely and asking customers to bring or buy reusable bags instead. It surprised some customers, including Randy Nunez, who pays for
“I expected them to have bags at 10 cents a bag or no charge for SNAP benefits. And I wasn’t prepared to eliminate bags entirely.
Nunez said he couldn’t afford to buy reusable bags right now and was in a tough spot.
“It was a little frustrating because we couldn’t afford bags back then, right?” Nunez said. “I basically had to get the groceries out of the cart, load them into the car, and then walk away.”
Walmart responds to new bag rules
Walmart spokeswoman Lauren Willis said the move will “achieve zero waste across our operations and ultimately transition to a circular economy built by encouraging reuse, refilling and recycling practices.” said it was part of an effort to
Nunez said she agreed with the goal of using less plastic and reuses plastic bags from stores as trash bags at home.
Certain communities, such as Lakewood and Fort Collins, offer free reusable bags, but Nunez has not found such a program in Brighton.
He said if this policy continues, we may need to shop elsewhere.
“I was pretty angry,” he said.
