Stop & Shop eliminating plastic bags, charging $0.10 for paper

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Massachusetts has a confusing constellation of rules and ordinances regulating where single-use plastic bags are banned, but one major supermarket chain is planning to implement its own blanket policy, which could change things for customers in many cities and towns.

Stop & Shop has announced that it is eliminating all single-use plastic bags from its stores by July 2023 and will begin to charge customers for all paper bags. A spokesperson for the chain said it will charge $0.10 per paper bag, and the fee will be taxable.

The chain also offers reusable bags for sale, with prices starting at $0.10, the spokesperson said.

Stop & Shop operates more than 400 supermarkets in New England, New York and New Jersey. The chain is owned by Ahold Delhaize, a Dutch company which also operates several other U.S. chains, including Food Lion, Giant and Hannaford.

In a statement, a Hannaford representative said that the chain does "have an ambition to eliminate single-use bags in all our Massachusetts stores in the near future."

Many Massachusetts cities and towns have implemented their own plastic bag ordinances, but rules can vary by community. According to the Sierra Club, 157 of the state's 351 cities and towns have rules regulating single-use plastic bags.

Video below: Boston's ban takes effect in 2018

In Boston, for example, a 2018 ordinance requires retailers to charge at least $0.05 per recyclable paper bag, compostable bag, or reusable bag. The rule was temporarily halted during the early months of the pandemic but was reinstituted in 2020.

In neighboring Cambridge, where the ban on single-use plastic bags was passed in 2015, single-use paper bags can be made available for a fee of $0.10.

In 2019, the Massachusetts state Senate approved a statewide ban on plastic bags, but the measure didn't make it into law.