New Framingham Shopping Bag Fee Starts In July

FRAMINGHAM, MA — The coronavirus pandemic only delayed Framingham's implementation of a new law allowing 10-cent fees on shopping bags.

The City Council way back in December 2019 approved the fee, which retailers can charge shoppers who opt for single-use bags, whether they're paper, plastic or some other material. The law was supposed to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2021, but that was pushed back due to the pandemic.

The fee is now set to go into effect on July 5. Stores will get to keep the fees collected under the ordinance. To avoid the fee, the city is encouraging shoppers to bring bags to the store to use at checkout.

"A bag made of plastic, paper, or other material that is provided by a store to a customer at the point of sale and that is not a reusable checkout bag," is how the city law defines a single-use bag. "A single -use checkout bag does not include single-use plastic bags, typically without handles, to contain dry cleaning, newspapers, produce, meat, bulk foods, wet items and, other similar merchandise."

An ad hoc committee that was monitoring the city's plastic bag ban recommended the fee to encourage shoppers to use reusable bags.

Framingham first enacted the plastic bag ban in 2018, prohibiting stores from offering "thin film" plastic shopping bags. The ban did not apply to plastic bags used for produce, newspapers or dry cleaning.

You can read the new law that goes into effect July 5 on the city website.