Baltimore County’s new Bring Your Own Bag Act aims to reduce litter, plastic pollution, and waste due to single-use carryout bags and to increase the use of reusable bags.
On November 1, the distribution of single-use plastic checkout bags at the point of sale was prohibited in order to reduce the significant negative impact of plastic bag litter in our communities, waterways and at the County’s recycling processing plant. Retail establishments now charge a minimum of $0.05 for each paper or reusable bag distributed, to encourage shoppers to bring their own bag and reduce single-use waste.
Affected Carryout Bags
The provision of plastic carryout bags to a customer at the point of sale that are not reusable carryout bags will be prohibited, including provision of compostable plastic carryout bags.
Paper and reusable carryout bags may be provided at the point of sale. Reusable carryout bags are carryout bags with stitched handles that are designed and manufactured for multiple reuse and made of either:
- Cloth or other washable fabric
- A durable material suitable for multiple re-use that is not made of plastic film, except for plastic film that has a thickness greater than 2.6 milliliters
Reusable carryout bags of both material types must have stitched handles. Plastic film bags with fused or glued handles are not compliant.
The following plastic bags are not considered carryout bags provided at the point of sale, and therefore are not subject to the ban. Plastic bags that:
- Are used to package produce or bulk items such as nuts, grains, candy or small hardware items;
- Contain or wrap frozen foods, meat, or fish, whether prepackaged or not;
- Contain or wrap flowers, potted plants or other damp items;
- Take live fish, insects, mollusks or crustaceans from a retail establishment;
- Contain unwrapped prepared foods or bakery goods;
- Are used to comply with food safety and contamination standards; or
- Contain garments or dry-cleaned clothes, including suits, jackets, and dresses.
Affected Businesses
Retail establishments—including any store, food service facility and any other for-profit or nonprofit establishment that provides paper or reusable bags to customers for the sale of goods, products, or services—must comply. This includes:
- Convenience stores or a fuel or service station with a convenience store
- General merchandise or department stores
- Grocery stores or supermarkets
- Hardware and home improvement stores
- Specialty products stores
- Jewelry stores
- Florists
- Galleries
- Liquor stores
- Pharmacies
- Restaurants
- Any other retail store or vendor, including a temporary store or vendor at a street fair or festival
Exempted Businesses
Small retail establishments and liquor stores are exempt from all provisions of the Act. Small retail establishments are defined as any store, food service facility or other establishment that provides carryout bags to customers as the result of the sale of a good, product, or service, whether for profit or not-for-profit that meets all of the following criteria:
- Operates solely in the County or adjoining jurisdictions
- Has three or fewer locations
- Is not part of a franchise corporation, corporate control group or partnership with physical locations outside of the County and adjoining jurisdictions
In consideration of food safety and contamination standards, fast food and other carryout food service facilities are not required to charge a five-cent fee for paper bags provided to customers. This includes restaurants that provide take-out bags (e.g. "doggy bags”) for leftover food.
Responsibilities of Businesses
On or after November 1, 2023, affected retail establishments:
- May not provide plastic carryout bags to customers at the point of sale that are not reusable carryout bags
- Must charge and retain at least five cents for each paper and reusable carryout bag they provide to a customer
- May not charge a customer who brings their own bag
- May not advertise, hold out, or state to the public or to a customer, directly or indirectly, that any part of the bag charge collected will be refunded to the customer
- Must provide transaction receipts that show the number of paper or reusable carryout bags provided and the amount charged
They may:
- Post a sign at each point of sale that states the charge for each paper and reusable carryout bag
- Offer and promote incentives for customers to bring their own bag, or reduce the cost of purchasing a reusable bag, as long as the charge is at least five cents per bag.
Acceptable Bag Types
In addition to paper bags, reusable bags are carryout bags that:
- Have stitched handles, are designed and manufactured for multiple reuse, and made of:
- Cloth or other washable fabric or
- A durable material suitable for multiple re-use that is not made of plastic film, except for plastic film that has a thickness greater than 2.6 milliliters
- Reusable carryout bags of both material types must have stitched handles. Plastic film bags with fused or glued handles are not compliant.
The plastic bag prohibition does not include bags used to:
- Contain produce or bulk foods such as nuts, grains, candy or small hardware items
- Contain or wrap frozen foods, meat, fish, flowers, potted plants or other damp items
- Take live fish, insects, mollusks or crustaceans from a retail establishment
- Contain unwrapped prepared foods or bakery goods
- Comply with food safety and contamination standards
- Contain garments or dry-cleaned clothes
Retailers may offer and promote incentives for customers to bring their own bag, or reduce the cost of purchasing a reusable bag, as long as the fee is no less than five cents per bag.
Penalties for Noncompliance
A retail establishment that violates the Bring Your Own Bag Act is subject to a civil penalty not to exceed $500, enforced by the Baltimore County Department of Permits, Approvals and Inspections (PAI).
- The provision of one or more plastic carryout bags at a single point of sale is a single violation.
- The failure to charge at least five cents per paper or reusable bag at a single point of sale is a single violation.
Penalties will only be imposed after a retail establishment is issued a written notice and fails to comply within seven days. A penalty may not be imposed more than once within a seven-day period.
Grace Period
During the first 90 days of implementation—November 1, 2023 through January 29, 2024— PAI will only issue correction notices with no monetary fines and educate noncompliant establishments.
After this 90-day grace period, fines will apply.
Additionally, the Director of PAI or designee may grant up to two waivers for a period of three additional months if the Director determines that compliance would cause an undue hardship or a practical difficulty not generally applicable to other retail establishments.
Resource Toolkit
Local retailers are encouraged to download the following artwork for the BYOBag campaign to print and display at their stores:
More Information
Read the Baltimore County’s Bring Your Own Bag Act.
For questions, contact Code Enforcement Division via email at paienforce@baltimorecountymd.gov or by calling 410-887-3351.
We appreciate all efforts to make this significant change in business practices that will help to reduce the impact of plastics pollution in our local and global environment.