Starting July 1, stores can no longer offer those 10-cent single-use plastic bags at checkout anymore as a new environmental protection law took effect.

Protecting our environment is an ongoing challenge and removing single-use plastic bags from the waste stream is a helpful positive step in the right direction.

This represents the second and final stage of Connecticut’s single-use plastic bag law that originally passed in 2019. The first phase of this bill initiated a 10-cent charge for plastic bags back in August 2019.

Though you will no longer be able to get a plastic bag at check outs, paper bags will still be available.

Residents are of course encouraged to continue to use and bring their reusable bags when shopping.

The Hartford Courant recently reported "there is no statewide ban or fee on the use of paper bags, just the thin plastic ones, but some stores are charging for the use of them, citing the higher cost of using them, and it is within the power of individual Connecticut municipalities to restrict the use of them as well."

You can read entire Courant article on the plastic bag ban here.