Fees for plastic and paper bags passes in Denver, pending signature of a supportive Mayor Hancock

On Monday night in Denver City Council’s last meeting of the year, a fee on plastic and paper bags was unanimously approved and could take effect as early as July, pending the signature of a supportive Mayor Michael Hancock.

The ordinance, led by Councilwoman Kendra Black, will charge consumers 10 cents for every plastic or paper bag used to take home their goods and groceries. Retailers will keep 4 cents from every grocery bag sold, and the city will pocket the rest.

Hundreds of laws and ordinances across the country ban or tax plastic bags, including in 11 Colorado municipalities, and Denver’s proposal has faced very little resistance. In fact, both convenience stores and supermarket chains are on board, as are city leaders.

“The world has changed,” Black recently told Colorado Politics. “There’s now an acknowledgment that there is a problem with plastic bags because they don’t decompose. They never go away.”

An estimated 250 million bags are used by Denver residents every year, according to the city. If Denverites reduce their consumption of single-use bags by half, the city will generate about $7.5 million in revenue.

That money will be used for program education and marketing, free reusable bag giveaways through retailers, schools and city agencies, waste reduction efforts, and administrative and enforcement costs.

The upfront costs, to be reimbursed after fees are collected, will include an advertising campaign, giveaway bags and the staff needed to conduct the giveaways, as well as agency assistance for implementation, which will require the hiring of a program coordinator.

“This is just a first step," Black said. “It is time for Denver to do this. But we need to do more."

Hancock also agrees that this measure is just a first step, and would personally like to see a full ban, as is done in at least eight states: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, New York, Oregon and Vermont, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

In other business, Denver city government unanimously approved a proclamation urging Alden Global Capital – owner of The Denver Post, and more than 100 other newspapers – to either invest in local journalism or divest entirely.

The proclamation was sponsored by Councilman Kevin Flynn, a former reporter for Colorado’s Rocky Mountain News.

Journalism is an “integral part” of democracy, he said, but “you simply cannot cover a community with 25% of the staff that used to cover it.”

Over the last eight years, about three-quarters of The Denver Post’s staff has been slashed.

“If we do not stand by our local news, then we won’t be seeing it,” Councilwoman Robin Kniech said in support of the proclamation.