Maine to Ban Plastic One-Use Bags Starting July 15th

According to News Center Maine, single use plastic bags that we often get at the grocery store, will be banned as of July 15th. Retailers will face fines from $250 for a first violation to $500 for each violation after. Many Maine municipalities have already banned them, now it will be statewide.

Even though some of these bags are labelled as recyclable, they aren't welcome in our recycling bins because they get stuck in our recycling equipment and can only be recycled at certain facilities.

For years I was putting my recycling in a "recyclable" grocery bag and putting that into my curbside recycling bin! In my opinion, stores should have done a better job of informing shoppers that the bags weren't really recyclable. I asked at my local store and they said I could bring my bags, (that I'm getting charged for), back to the store for recycling. I asked why there were no containers or notices out about that and I got the shoulder shrug, the universal sign for, "not my monkeys, not my circus".

Stores will have the option of offering paper bags.

Personally, I understand that plastic is terrible for the environment. That said, I wish that stores had made it more of a priority to make proper recycling of the bags available. They were charging me way more for the plastic bags than they are worth, misleading me into thinking they were recyclable and offering no solution while making more money from me. Can we talk about the paper waste in their stupid game pieces too?!