Plastic Bag Ban Pushed Back to 2021; City Announces on 50th Earth Day

Plastic Bag Announcement: The Earth Day Party Pooper

This past Wednesday, members took part in celebrating our planet, whether it was through a virtual webinar or taking a walk around the neighborhood.

If we can take anything away from this strange way to commemorate the Earth, it was that we shouldn’t take it for granted.

However, the city was celebrating in a strange way. After announcing the release of the Greenworks 2020 magazine, Parks and Rec at home Facebook live series and a new round of Solarize Philly, Mayor Kenney applauded the long-awaited plastic bag ban passed back in December. Then, Kenney announced that the legislation is being put on the back burner

New Year, No Plastic?

The original date for the Single Use Plastic Bag Ban was set totake effect this summer on July 2nd.

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the mayor announced the ban’s effective date would be pushed back to the first day of the new year, January 1, 2021, with enforcement beginning on April 1st.

This news was ironically announced on Earth Day’s 50th anniversary, a stark contrast considering the urgent dangers of climate change and plastic pollution.

“This is not an announcement we want to make during Earth Week… However, we realize that this law will only be successful if there is widespread messaging to our diverse business owners, effective enforcement, and most importantly, partnership among all stakeholders and communities,” said the city in a blog post.

Updated Implementation Dates

Here’s the updated plastic bag ban implementation dates:

January 1, 2021	Legislation goes into effect.
February 1, 2021	Retail establishments are required to post at all points of sale conspicuous signage informing customers that single-use plastic bags and non-recycled content paper bags will no longer be provided by the establishment as of the date the prohibition begins.
April 1, 2021	Enforcement of the prohibition of bags begins.
April 2, 2021 –June 30, 2021	Three month-long education period; enforcement agencies will issue warnings.
July 1, 2021	Enforcement agencies will fine non-compliant businesses; automatically writing CVNs or NOVs to non-compliant businesses as appropriate.