Baltimore City is following the lead of other Maryland counties and cities by taking action on reducing plastic waste in efforts to create a cleaner city.[1] On January 13, 2020, Baltimore City’s Mayor, Jack Young, signed the Comprehensive Bag Reduction Act into law.[2] The Comprehensive Bag Reduction Act states that no person engaged in the retail sale of goods in Baltimore City may supply customers with plastic checkout bags.[3]

The enactment of the Comprehensive Bag Reduction Act is a victory for Baltimore City as advocates have tried nine times since 2006 to ban the use of plastic bags.[4] The Act will not take effect until January 13, 2021, giving retailer’s ample amount of time to prepare and adapt to the new law.[5] A violation of the new law will subject retailers to a misdemeanor and a fine of $1,000 for each offense.[6] The new law however, does contain exceptions that allows the use of a plastic bag when it contains fresh fish, meat and poultry products, unpackaged fruits, nuts or vegetables, unpackaged baked goods or fresh cheese, ice, items from a farmers market, prescription drugs, newspapers and dry clean items.[7]

Not only will the retailer obtain a fee for violating the new law, but customers will also receive a surcharge for the use of a store’s non-plastic checkout bag.[8] Customers will be charged five cents for any bag that is given to them by the retailer.[9] The surcharge is to encourage customers to bring and use their own reusable shopping bags to further eliminate waste.[10] Some customers may be opposed to this surcharge, but not only does it encourage recycling of bags, the surcharge also supports the business as well as Baltimore City.[11] Four cents of the surcharge will stay with the retailer and a penny will go to the city.[12]

Baltimore City is not the first city in Maryland to enact a plastic bag ban. Chestertown enacted a ban on plastic bags for all retailers in 2011[13] and Montgomery County enacted a five-cent charge for every plastic or paper bag provided in 2012.[14]

As Maryland evolves to be a more environmentally friendly state, many citizens may wonder what restriction is next on the agenda. The Maryland Legislature 2020 Session will hear a cross-filed bill in which both the House of Delegates and Senate are seeking to impose a fine of $250 on people who intentionally release balloons into the air.[15] Queen Anne’s County has already imposed a fine on the intentional release on plastic balloons in an effort to protect the environment and animals.[16]

The hope of these changes is to foster cleaner neighborhoods and cities in efforts to leave the state better than we found it for future generations. Every little change to help the environment can have a long lasting effect on citizen’s way of life. It is a breath of relief to see the city and state coming together to help better the world we live in.

Abigail Mansfield is a third-year evening law student at the University of Baltimore and an Associate Editor for Law Forum. Abigail is currently a Legal Research and Remediation Analyst for Corporate Trust Services at Wells Fargo Bank in Columbia, Maryland, processing curative title matters and property violation litigation. Abigail will graduate in December 2020 with the hopes to pursue a career in employment law.

[1] Annie Rose Ramos, Plastic Bag Ban Bill Signed in Baltimore, CBS Baltimore, Jan. 13, 2020 at 4:40 p.m., https://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2020/01/13/plastic-bag-ban-bill-signed-in-baltimore-retailers-prohibited-from-distributing-bags-by-2021/.

[2] Id.

[3] Baltimore City, MD, City Ordinance § 19-0401.

[4] Ramos, supra note 1.

[5] Elizabeth Janney, Plastic Bag Ban Bill Signed By Baltimore Mayor, Patch, Jan. 13, 2020 at 4:43 p.m., https://patch.com/maryland/baltimore/plastic-bag-ban-bill-signed-baltimore-mayor.

[6] Id.

[7] Id.

[8] Id.

[9] Ramos, supra note 1.

[10] Id.

[11] Id.

[12] Id.

[13] Chestertown, MD, Code of Ordinances § 133.

[14] Montgomery County, MD, Montgomery County Code § 52-78.

[15] 2020 Maryland Senate Bill No. 28, Maryland 441st Session of the General Assembly, 2020.

[16] Queen Anne’s County, MD, County Ordinance No. 19-13.