Boston, MA Single-Use Items: Plastic Bag Rules (2026)

3 requires that if a retail establishment provides a checkout bag to customers, the bag must be a reusable bag, a recyclable paper bag, or a compostable plastic bag, thin single-use plastic carryout bags are effectively prohibited. The ordinance defines RETAIL ESTABLISHMENT broadly to cover restaurants, pharmacies, convenience and grocery stores, liquor stores, and household goods stores, though bazaars or festivals run by nonprofits or religious institutions are excluded. Excluded from the definition of CHECKOUT BAG are produce bags, laundry or dry-cleaner bags, newspaper bags, and bags used to wrap meat, fish, or frozen food to contain moisture, so those remain unregulated.

05 per bag, and that charge must be separately itemized on the sale receipt as the 'checkout bag charge'; the store keeps the money collected. The Chief of Environment, Energy and Open Space administers the program and may promulgate implementing rules, and may grant a retail establishment a one-year hardship exemption, for example to draw down an existing inventory of noncompliant bags, conditioned on monthly inventory reports to the Chief. 6.