How Many States Have Banned Plastic Bags in the US?

Twelve states have banned single-use plastic bags at retail checkout: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. Another 17 states have gone the opposite direction, passing preemption laws that stop their own cities and counties from banning plastic bags. The rest sit in the middle, with no statewide rule either way, which has left hundreds of local governments to write their own.

The Twelve States With Statewide Bans

California was first. The legislature passed Senate Bill 270 in 2014, and voters confirmed it through Proposition 67 in 2016.¹ The original law had a loophole: stores began giving out thicker plastic bags labeled “reusable” that shoppers threw away just like the old ones. California closed the gap with SB 1053, which took effect January 1, 2026, and prohibits stores from providing any plastic carryout bag at checkout regardless of thickness. Recycled paper bags can still be sold for at least 10 cents.²

Hawaii is counted as a ban state without ever having passed a state law. All four of its populous counties enacted their own plastic bag bans between 2011 and 2015, which added up to a de facto statewide prohibition.³ New York’s Bag Waste Reduction Act, which added Title 28 to Article 27 of the Environmental Conservation Law, took effect in March 2020 and applies to any business required to collect state sales tax.⁴

Five more states came online in 2019 and 2020. Oregon’s HB 2509 took effect January 1, 2020, covering retail stores and restaurants.⁵ Maine’s ban launched April 22, 2020, under Public Law Chapter 346, barring retailers from handing out single-use carryout bags at the register.⁶ Vermont’s Single-Use Products Law also launched in 2020.⁷ Connecticut’s ban took effect July 1, 2021, after a transition period that began with a fee on single-use bags.⁸ Delaware first required at-store plastic bag recycling and later moved to a full ban at all retail stores; the updated law passed in June 2021 and took effect July 1, 2022.⁹

New Jersey has the strictest law of the twelve. All stores are prohibited from handing out single-use plastic carryout bags, and grocery stores of 2,500 square feet or more also cannot provide single-use paper bags, which leaves reusable bags as the only option at larger food retailers.¹⁰ Washington’s ban launched in late 2021; as of January 2026 the state charges 12 cents for reusable plastic bags and 8 cents for paper bags at checkout. Colorado and Rhode Island round out the twelve, with both bans taking force on January 1, 2024.¹¹

What the Bans Cover and What Stays Legal

The bans target the bag handed to you at checkout. Bags used earlier in the shopping process, mainly for food safety, are still allowed. The exemption list is fairly consistent across ban states. Under California’s SB 1053, the following are not treated as “carryout bags” subject to the ban:²

Thin produce and bulk-item bags on rolls in the produce, meat, deli, and bakery sections.
Pharmacy bags provided specifically to hold prescription medications.
Garment bags used for dry cleaning or laundry service.
Protective bags used to keep one purchased item from damaging or contaminating another inside a larger bag.

Oregon adds bags sold in packages for food storage, garbage, or pet waste.⁵ Colorado exempts laundry and dry-cleaning bags, pharmacy prescription bags, and in-store bags for loose or bulk items.

Fees on Paper and Reusable Bags

Most ban states also require stores to charge for whatever replacement bags they offer, so shoppers don’t simply switch from free plastic to free paper. Oregon sets a floor of 5 cents per bag for paper or reusable options, and local governments can require more.⁵ California requires at least 10 cents for a recycled paper bag.² New York charges 5 cents for paper carryout bags. Washington, as of 2026, charges 8 cents for paper and 12 cents for reusable plastic.

Retailers keep some or all of the fee. In California, the money must be used only to cover the cost of compliant bags, fund compliance, or support educational outreach about the ban. In Oregon, the fee belongs to the retailer. Some states require the fee to appear as a separate line item on the customer’s receipt.

Whether food-assistance shoppers pay depends on the state. California’s SB 1053 requires stores to provide recycled paper bags at no cost to customers paying with WIC vouchers or EBT cards.² Oregon provides the same exemption for WIC and EBT users.⁵ The USDA has said it lacks authority to exempt SNAP recipients from bag fees on its own.¹² So the exemption exists only where a state built it in.

What Counts as a Reusable Bag

Bag bans would mean little if stores could hand out slightly thicker plastic and call it reusable. That is exactly what happened in California before SB 1053 closed the loophole. Most laws therefore define “reusable” with specific standards. The widely used model, based on California’s original framework, defines a reusable bag as one that can carry at least 22 pounds a minimum of 125 times over a distance of 175 feet, and it must be machine washable or otherwise easy to clean. Plastic reusable bags generally must be at least 2.25 mils thick, though states set the bar differently. Connecticut defines single-use bags as those thinner than 4.0 mils.⁸ Washington is moving to require 4-mil thickness for plastic reusable bags by January 2028.¹³

Paper bags face their own rules. California requires paper carryout bags to contain at least 40% post-consumer recycled content, rising to 50% by January 2028.² Oregon also requires 40% post-consumer recycled content for paper bags sold at checkout.⁵

The Seventeen States That Block Local Bag Bans

While a dozen states have banned plastic bags, roughly seventeen have gone the other way, passing preemption laws that stop cities and counties from restricting plastic bags on their own. In those states, no local community can act on plastic bags unless the state legislature does it first.¹⁴

Florida’s preemption is one of the most explicit. State law prohibits any local government or state agency from enacting rules on the use, sale, prohibition, restriction, or taxation of auxiliary containers, including plastic bags. The prohibition remains until the legislature acts on department recommendations regarding recyclable materials.¹⁵ Texas reached the same result through the courts. In 2018, the Texas Supreme Court struck down Laredo’s plastic bag ordinance, holding that it conflicted with the state’s Solid Waste Disposal Act.¹⁶ Idaho’s statute reserves all regulation of “auxiliary containers,” including reusable bags, disposable bags, cups, and bottles made of cloth, paper, plastic, or polystyrene, exclusively to the state legislature.¹⁷ Other preemption states include Arizona, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.

Local Bans in States With No Statewide Rule

In states with neither a statewide ban nor a preemption law, local governments have often filled the gap. Massachusetts is the clearest example. More than 160 cities and towns, covering over 70% of the state’s population, have passed their own plastic bag restrictions even though the legislature has not. Philadelphia has its own ban covering all retail establishments, even though Pennsylvania has no statewide law in either direction.

The result is a patchwork. A store owner with locations in several cities in the same state can face a different rule at each one, and shoppers may cross a city line and find the checkout works differently.

Federal Law on Plastic Bags

There is no federal ban. The Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act, which would have phased out many single-use plastic products nationwide, was introduced in the Senate in October 2023 and never advanced past referral to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.¹⁸ Versions of the bill have been reintroduced since 2020 without a floor vote.

The EPA released its National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution in November 2024, listing reduced single-use plastic consumption and a national extended producer responsibility framework as goals. The document states that its recommendations are “potential actions” rather than legally binding requirements, and any federal activity depends on congressional appropriations and interagency approvals.¹⁹ For now, plastic bag rules remain a state and local matter, and the count stands at twelve states banning them, seventeen blocking bans, and the rest deciding city by city.

1
California Secretary of State. Proposition 67 Title and Summary and Analysis
2
California Legislative Information. SB 1053
3
National Conference of State Legislatures. State Plastic Bag Legislation
4
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Bag Waste Reduction Act – Information for Manufacturers and Retailers
5
Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. Single-Use Bag Ban – Production and Design
6
Maine State Legislature. Maine Code 38 1611 – Plastic Bag Reduction
7
Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation. Single-Use Products Law
8
Connecticut Department of Revenue Services. Single-Use Plastic Bag Fee to Sunset
9
Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. Plastic Carryout Bag Ban and At-Store Recycling Program FAQs
10
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Get Past Plastic
11
World Economic Forum. Plastic Bag Bans Work
12
USDA Food and Nutrition Service. SNAP Retailer Notice – Bag Fees, Sales Tax, Seasonal Items
13
Washington State Department of Ecology. Plastic Bag Ban
14
National Sea Grant Law Center. Plastic and Styrofoam Bans
15
Florida Legislature. Florida Code 403.7033 – Departmental Analysis of Particular Recyclable Materials
16
Justia. City of Laredo, Texas v. Laredo Merchants Association
17
Idaho State Legislature. Idaho Code 67-2340 – Regulation of Auxiliary Containers
18
Congress.gov. S.3127 – Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act of 2023
19
Environmental Protection Agency. National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution