Houston, TX Single-Use Items: Plastic Bag Rules (2026)

Tex. Health & Safety Code § 361.0961(a) provides that a local government 'may not adopt an ordinance, rule, or regulation to: (1) prohibit or restrict, for solid waste management purposes, the sale or use of a container or package in a manner not authorized by state law; (2) assess a fee or deposit on the sale or use of a container or package; or (3) restrict or prohibit the processing of a container or package for recycling or solid waste management.' In City of Laredo v. Laredo Merchants Ass'n (2018), the Texas Supreme Court held unanimously that this section preempts municipal checkout-bag ordinances, even those framed as anti-litter measures, because their effect is solid-waste management. After Laredo, Austin, Brownsville, Fort Stockton, South Padre Island, and similar cities rescinded their bag ordinances. Houston never enacted a ban; the only carryout-bag-related city activity is voluntary store take-back, the H-E-B and Kroger plastic-film recycling drop-offs at front entrances, and Houston Solid Waste's reminder that plastic bags must not enter the curbside green-cart stream (they jam sortation machinery). Texas neighbors that did NOT preempt — California (SB 270), New Mexico (HB 70-grocery rules vary by city), and Colorado (HB 21-1162) — show how state choice drives local outcomes.