Reusable bags now permitted in Mass grocery stores; plastic bag ban is back

On July 10, the Department of Public Health rescinded an emergency order addressing operation of grocery stores and pharmacies and related guidance. This order prohibited re-usable bags from being used at grocery stores and allowed stores to use plastic bags despite communities’ bans on plastic bags.

Customers may now bring reusable bag into grocery stores, and municipalities may go back to enforcing their plastic bag bans.

Milton is a community that enacted a plastic bag ban last fall and and will now return to enforcing the plastic bag ban again.