Hawaii’s Big Island Bans Plastic Bags

by 01/24/12 9 Comments

Hawaii’s Big Island is joining its neighbors, Kauai and Maui, and prohibiting local businesses from distributing plastic bags. Photo: Flickr/grantzprice

The next time you vacation in Hawaii, you might want to bring your own shopping bags.

Last week, the Big Island joined its neighbors, Kauai and Maui, in passing legislation prohibiting local businesses from distributing single-use, carryout plastic shopping bags, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reports.

Taking effect in 2013, the new regulations will allow stores to sell plastic bags to customers for an additional year to clear out their inventory of shopping bags.

Hawaii County Mayor Billy Kenoi, who signed the bill into law on Jan. 17, said in a letter to the city council that he agreed with the bill’s opponents who argued that placing fees on plastic bags, increased education and voluntary recycling were better solutions than banning plastic bags.

But as a frequent surfer, Kenoi acknowledged plastic litter’s impact on marine life and decided to lend his support to the law.

“This bill holds the promise of keeping our island clean, healthy and safe, and we need to finish the job,” Kenoi wrote to his fellow city council members.

Similar legislation restricting plastic bags was vetoed by Hawaii County’s previous mayor in 2010, according to Californians Against Waste.

READ: 25 Calif. Cities Now Have Plastic Bag Bans

Alexis Petru

Alexis Petru

Staff Writer


  1. Joseph Bugado

    posted on January 24th, 2012 at 4:19 pm

    vote mayor billy kenoi out of office send him back to surfing he don't think of the big island poor people.

  2. Pete Wagner

    posted on January 24th, 2012 at 4:28 pm

    Big Island can be self-sufficient. Goodbye oil & plastic, hello geo-thermal and hemp.

  3. Jenna Munding

    posted on January 24th, 2012 at 5:57 pm

    I think more cities should ban the use of plastic bags reusing cloth bags for groceries is a win win since the store could lower the cost of expenses by no longer purchasing bags. While some stores in my area do charge for their plastic bags I do not believe that this helps people to use cloth bags as much as banning them altogether would.

  4. Sarah Huffman

    posted on January 24th, 2012 at 7:14 pm

    agreed... theyve done that here in a lot of cities!

  5. John Bottomley

    posted on January 25th, 2012 at 2:47 pm

    Long overdue. These bags will be a blight for generations to come.

  6. Matthew Purvis

    posted on January 25th, 2012 at 7:01 pm

    ridiculous bill. Forcing folks to do this is the old and dying big brother form of governing. I have been surfing Hawaii for 6 years and I have never seen a grocery bag floating past me. I think I'll buy them in bulk and bring them into the store. Also these "one use" bags get a lot more uses at my house.

  7. Sunny Riley

    posted on January 25th, 2012 at 7:27 pm

    I use them as trash bags...so now I will have to buy trash bags...?

  8. Stephen Schaefle

    posted on January 26th, 2012 at 12:46 am

    That's really the point...in places where the ban has been in effect the sales of trash bags skyrocketed...also if you bring your own bags to the store *be sure* you wash them each time...chicken juice from last week's shopping trip will still have bacteria growing and infesting your apples this week.

  9. Marilee Wallace

    posted on January 26th, 2012 at 2:50 am

    it seems we will be trading useful and re-usable bags for...what????

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