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

2 of the Somerville Code of Ordinances flatly prohibits any retail establishment, defined broadly to include restaurants, pharmacies, grocery and convenience stores, liquor stores, and seasonal or temporary businesses, from providing a disposable plastic shopping bag to a customer to carry goods away from the point of sale. 1 covers standard petroleum- or bio-based checkout bags, including degradable and non-commercially-compostable biodegradable bags, but excludes reusable bags and the thin bags used to bag loose produce, meat, or other food items before checkout. Stores remain free to sell reusable bags, defined as bags rated for at least 125 uses carrying 22 or more pounds, and to use recyclable paper bags labeled with at least 40 percent post-consumer content.

The ban itself dates to Ordinance No. 2015-06, adopted November 24, 2015, and it phased in by store size: retailers with 10,000 square feet or more of floor area had to comply by August 24, 2016, while smaller retailers had until November 24, 2016. The ordinance sits in Chapter 9, Division 3, alongside a separate division banning single-use plastic straws, stirrers, and cutlery except on request, and another requiring at-store plastic film recycling.