By Mike Finney

DOVER — Many customers throughout Delaware say they are growing tired of “needing to study a manual” to understand how to properly prepare for a trip to a store after state lawmakers voted to ban plastic shopping bags at the start of this year.

However, some stores quickly discovered what many have called “a loophole” in the law that says plastic shopping bags that are thicker than 2.25 mils are legal under the current rules, primarily because they could possibly be cleaned and would thereby be reusable.

Seeking to close that loophole in Delaware’s plastic bag law, lawmakers filed a measure Thursday that they hope would set the next benchmark in ending the use of plastic bags at larger stores.

Reps. Gerald Brady, D-Wilmington West; Valerie Longhurst, D-Bear; and Eric Morrison, D-Glasgow, are sponsors of House Bill 212, which would increase the minimum thickness for a plastic bag to qualify as a reusable bag from 2.25 mils to 10 mils beginning Jan. 1, 2022.

The increased thickness would eliminate the thicker plastic bags being marketed as “reusable” and ensure that any bags offered to customers are truly meant to be kept and reused multiple times.

While this change initially would only apply to the large and chain stores defined in the 2019 law, HB 212 also would make the restrictions applicable to all stores, regardless of size, beginning July 1, 2022.

“If you’re trying to get rid of plastic shopping bags, then why didn’t they just pass a law that bans plastic shopping bags?” asked La’Reisha Coverdale, while walking out of Walmart near Cheswold with three thick plastic bags in her shopping cart on Thursday afternoon. “Instead, people don’t know whether to be prepared to buy bags at the store or what.

“I don’t think it should take a user’s manual to figure out how to shop in Delaware, and I believe that our state’s politicians should have been smart enough to figure that out the first time around with this plastic bag ban.”

Many retail and grocery stores are also providing paper bags to their customers, which would also seem to go against laws whose intent is to have shoppers use reusable bags for their trips to grocery and convenience stores.

“I, personally, don’t want to have to worry about having to store shopping bags in my trunk should my wife call me and need me to stop by the grocery store on the way home,” said Michael Murphy, of Bear, after shopping at the Food Lion in Smyrna. “I like the fact that Food Lion provides me with paper bags because they are convenient and durable, and you can fit a lot of groceries in each one.

“Who wants the added responsibility of cleaning out reusable shopping bags that you have to purchase from the store in order to comply with the law?”

While there are some that say the plastic bag law is nothing but a headache, there are many others who embrace the initiative to try to save the environment for future generations.

The effort to reduce single-use plastic bags follows a decade-long project to encourage residents to recycle the bags via on-site recycling receptacles at large retail stores.

However, plastic carryout bags have been found to be recycled at low rates — less than 10% — which leaves more than 3.5 million tons of plastic bags to be discarded nationally each year.

In Delaware, nearly 2,400 tons of plastic bags end up in landfills annually.

“Plastic bags do nothing but clog up landfills and create trashy-looking places where discarded bags blow down the road and into fences and even in the middle of highways,” said Thomas Campbell, who lives near Kenton. “It shouldn’t take that much work or effort to wipe out your reusable shopping bags after you bring them home.

“Some people just like to complain about everything … this plastic-bag ban is a good thing.”

HB 212 would further define “reusable bag” by specifying that it must be made of polypropylene fabric, PET non-woven fabric, nylon, cloth, cotton, jute, hemp product or other washable fabric.

The bag also must be made of cloth or another durable fabric that has stitched handles, is designed to be used at least 125 times, and has a capacity of at least four gallons.

Several local businesses and chains have adapted to the new law since it took effect on Jan. 1. Wawa offers small reusable bags for sale, while Walgreens has switched to paper bags on request.

“Several years ago, we decided to stop using single-use plastic bags for our café,” said Heather Love, owner of Whereabouts Café in Glasgow. “We knew that our small change could be part of a bigger community solution.

“Then, a few years later, Delaware changed the law and banned single-use plastic bags. We know that it will require a million tiny changes to save our planet, and we are proud to be doing our part.”