As one of the County’s Climate Action Plan recommendations, Prince George’s county will ban the use of plastic bags in retail and grocery stores, restaurants and other establishments as of January 1st, 2024. The county will be joining other counties in the DMV with similar policies already in place to help reduce pollution and littering.
The plastic bag ban does not include bakery goods, fish, meat, flowers, dry cleaning and package bulk items. There will be a ten cent fee applied to each paper bag used in place of plastic bags to help encourage the use of reusable bags, instead of paper. There will not be any charges for paper bags used for prescription medicine and take-out or prepared food from restaurants or drive-thu restaurants.
There will be a three month grace period for businesses but after 90 days they could be given a citation with monetary penalties if caught using plastic bags.