Plastic & Paper Bags - Bag Free in the Boat

Spurring Change Together!

In Steamboat Springs, 3.8 million single-use plastic bags are used yearly by shoppers. Many of these bags end up as litter in our rivers, forests and rural landscapes. 

The State of Colorado enacted a single-use carryout bag ban and fee as part of House Bill 21-1162 that required the city to reconcile its Plastic Bag Ban and Paper Bag Fee adopted several years earlier through Ordinance No. 2699.  The current Ordinance No. 2880 has been enacted. 

The fee applies to both paper and plastic single-use carryout bags at all stores in Steamboat Springs, including grocery stores, small stores, Farmers Markets, Roadside Market or Stand, Festival, and other temporary vendors or an event that includes temporary vendors. 

On a quarterly basis, by the 20th of the month following the end of each quarter, stores must remit the total amount of carryout bag fees collected in the previous quarter to the city. All stores are now prohibited from providing single-use plastic carryout bags to customers, but may provide single-use recycled paper bags for a .20-cent fee per bag. Stores may also sell, or provide at no cost, reusable carryout bags. Reusable bags are not applicable to the .20-cent bag fee.

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Additional Resources

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Technical Assistance

Contact Alicia Archibald, Community Recycling Coordinator