Early reminder: State increasing plastic-bag fee by 50 percent next year

| Environment | West Seattle news

2026 is six-plus weeks away, but the state Ecology Department just sent out this early alert:

Starting Jan. 1, 2026, a scheduled 4-cent increase in the price for plastic film carryout bags at Washington restaurants and retailers will raise their minimum cost to 12 cents per bag from the current 8 cents. The increase is part of a 2020 law meant to encourage shoppers to bring their own carryout bags. The minimum charge for a paper carryout bag will remain at 8 cents.

Washington’s single-use plastic bag ban was implemented in 2021 and prohibits thin, .5 mil disposable plastic bags. The law sets standards for thicker, 2.25 mil reusable plastic film bags and requires plastic and paper carryout bags contain a minimum 40% recycled content.

“Paper and plastic carryout bags impact the environmental at every stage of their production, transportation, and disposal,” said Peter Lyon, manager of Ecology’s Solid Waste Management Program. “Bringing your own bag is the easiest way to avoid the charge, reduce emissions, preserve resources, and prevent bags from becoming litter.”

To avoid the additional cost of carryout bags, Ecology recommends people store reusable bags in their cars, backpacks, purses, and other handy places where they can be easily retrieved when needed.

Resources designed to help businesses remind customers to bring their own bags are available on Ecology’s bag ban webpage, including printable “BYOB” signs and posters that can be hung in parking lots, on windows, and at checkout counters.

How bag fees work
When a customer chooses to purchase a bag from a grocery store, retailer, or restaurant, the law requires a minimum charge of 8 cents for paper bags or 12 cents for plastic bags. Businesses are allowed to charge more than the minimum fees to help recoup the higher costs of compliant paper and plastic bags. Bag fees are treated as taxable retail sales – the fee goes to the business. Customers using food benefits, such as WIC, TANF, SNAP or EBT, are not subject to bag fees. Food banks are also exempt from applying bag fees to paper or plastic bags.

Learn more
Visit ecology.wa.gov/bag-ban for more information about the law’s requirements, frequently asked questions, and flyers and resources translated into 18 languages. Contact bagban@ecy.wa.gov with questions or requests for technical assistance.

Seattle had a “bag ban” for almost a decade before the state implemented its law – which pre-empted the city rules – in 2021.

bolo November 18, 2025 (4:14 pm)

I remember when BYOB used to mean something else.

But yes, good idea to carry clean, recycled plastic bags in the backpack or whatever. I made a habit to carry a few and am unpleasantly surprised when I dig for one, can’t find it, and remember I used them previously and forgot to “refill.”

KT November 18, 2025 (5:05 pm)

Grocery Outlet in Birien stopped providing (selling) bags at all. Plastic bag problem solved…you HAVE to bring your own bags. Just get rid of the bags for purchase option.

Rats November 18, 2025 (6:57 pm)

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I like this idea. I have found I still get charged for bags even though I brought my own. Muscle memory equals cashiers always hitting the bag fee key (sometimes they say to me oh you brought your own bags and the fee is still on the receipt). I exclusively use self checkout now. The fee was supposed to encourage people to bring their own which is great but it seems to have morphed into a profit for stores selling all sorts of merchandise, not just grocery stores.
- JP November 18, 2025 (10:23 pm)
  
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  It was a bizarre turn of events to have plastic bags disappear for awhile only to return in a thicker gauge than they were before. Agree this was a windfall profit for the stores – buy a commodity and mark up to the highest price the customer is willing to absorb. Well intended if not naive policy turned on its head by opportunistic businesses. Not unlike my barber implementing a $5.00 surcharge for “sanitizing” during Covid then rolling the $5.00 permanently into the service price after the surcharge was no longer credible.
JP November 18, 2025 (10:00 pm)

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I bring reusable bags whenever I can remember, but sometimes life happens and I forget. If a grocery store stopped offering bags altogether I would I eschew them and shop elsewhere for my groceries. Problem solved!

Lucy November 18, 2025 (6:02 pm)

Another regressive tax. Not what is needed now.

Kyle November 18, 2025 (7:52 pm)

It’s funny because every Thai, teriyaki, and other takeout places just pack everything in the thicker plastic bags anyways and just pass the cost on to the consumer. These “thicker” plastic bags are still used by consumers as single use and are actually worse than the thinner ones they banned because they use more plastic.

Rats November 18, 2025 (8:14 pm)

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Yeah, I remember when plastic was banned and you paid for a bag that was paper. Then thick, reusable bags came to the grocery stores. Ironic. Originally the ban/fees started as a way to cut down on plastic in the environment..