Hawaii Just Became the First State to Fully Ban Plastic Bags

Banning plastic bags is a hot topic in North America.

Toronto had a pretty contentious bid to rid the city of them a few years ago, Montreal’s mulling the issue, and California’s effort to abandon plastic bags was an amusing back-and-forth over several months.

Hawaii, on the other hand, isn’t messing around on the matter. Over the weekend, Oahu decided to follow suit with the rest of the Hawaiian islands to completely ban plastic bags, which makes the entire state the first to do so in the United States.

Retailers who refuse to comply with the new regulations will face some pretty significant fines – from $100 up to $1000 dollars a day.

The law does leave a little wiggle room, however: Bags will still be allowed to wrap fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, and take-out home deliveries.

Opposition to the ban has already offered a nice bit of entertainment. As one online commenter noted, “I’m just saying, I grew up with plastic bags, it wasn’t about hurting the environment. It was about groceries. Grocery shopping is part of my heritage and I won’t stand for some rogue state to take it away.”

So it should be a pretty fun farewell tour for the plastic bag…

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