Post: Bill Imposing Fee on Grocery Store Plastic Bags Coming

The Denver Post reports today that lawmakers will soon introduce a bill requiring consumers to pay a fee for each plastic bag they use to carry groceries from a store.

The measure, which has not been introduced yet, is inspired by a group of students from the Kent Denver School.

According to the Post story,

The bill, introduced Friday, would require shoppers to pay 6 cents for each plastic bag they used.

The vendor and the state, which would use the money to increase environmental awareness, would split the fee evenly.

The proposal would apply only to businesses that are the largest sources of the bags — stores of 10,000 square feet or more and those that generate more than $1 million in annual revenues.

The bags would be eliminated from those stores after three years.

The sponsors will be Rep. Joe Miklosi, D-Denver, and Sen. Jennifer Veiga, D-Denver.

A 2006 report estimated that Americans recycled more than 800 million pounds of "post-consumer film," which includes plastic grocery bags, in 2006.