The City of Tacoma is saying goodbye to plastic bags, for good. The city has implemented a plastic bag ban taking effect on Wednesday.
Tacoma joins about 13 other cities in the state, including Seattle and Olympia, on the plastic bag ban.
Tacoma shoppers will pay five cents for a paper bag or bring in a reusable bag. Those with EBT, WIC or TANF won’t have to pay to get a paper bag.
“Most people love where they live and want to see it healthy, and this is one step in doing that,” said Jim Parvey, chief sustainability officer with the City of Tacoma
Parvey hopes the bag ban will help cut down on waste in the city.
“There’s really a litter problem. Tacoma used about 70 to 100 million plastic bags in a year.”
Grocery store owners like Lyne Lowe, who owns a Grocery Outlet in Tacoma, have been trying to get the word out to their customers
“I tell them the ban is coming. Do you have a plan? Some of them are ready and some of them are going ‘What are you talking about?' I think you’re going to find both. For us, it’s not really going to have a big impact one way or another as a business. However, we’ve been hanging out reusable bags.”
Volunteers for the City of Tacoma are also passing out free bags outside of area grocery stores to those in low-income communities
Some in the community are excited for a chance to be better at protecting the environment, but they want to be able to get plastic bags because they use them beyond the grocery store.
