It took almost 20 years, but Annapolis’ Plastic Bag Reduction Act is now in effect.

The page about the ordinance on the city’s website says it is meant to accomplish two things: protect the environment and encourage sustainability. Businesses are not allowed to provide plastic bags except for:

Bakery goods or unwrapped prepared foods

Bulk items, including fruit, vegetables, nuts, grains, candy, or small hardware items

Cigars or loose tobacco

Dry-cleaned or laundered items

Freshly prepared hot or cold food, including sliced deli meats

Goods from a farmers’ market

Ice

Live creatures such as fish, insects, mollusks, or crustaceans

Newspapers

Prescription drugs from a pharmacy

Plant material, flowers or potted plants

Packages of multiple bags intended for use for disposition of garbage, food storage, pet waste, or yard waste

Raw meat or seafood, or other foods the consistency of which is not conducive to the use of anything other than plastic carryout bags

Additionally, businesses can provide paper bags but must charge at least 10 cents for each. They can keep the fee for themselves but are prohibited from offering rebates or exemptions from it.

Certain businesses are also exempt from charging for paper bags, such as fast-food restaurants and school cafeterias. Bags must also be made of at least 50% post-consumer recycled content.

The city also plans to distribute reusable shopping bags. On Saturday, there will be a bag giveaway in the Admiral Drive area, and beginning in March reusable bags will be available on some forms of public transit for free.

Businesses face a $500 fine for the first offense, and then $1,000 for subsequent ones.

The ban took effect Wednesday. Anne Arundel County put a similar rule into effect last year.

According to Robert Savidge, who represents Ward 7 on the City Council, a ban has been in the works for nearly two decades.

“I know it has a significant impact. I worked in the stream restoration, stormwater restoration business, and the plastic litter and microplastics can certainly have an impact on our waterways,” Savidge said.

He said plastic bags in the environment can not only be an eyesore but are bad for the wildlife who eat them.

“Any new regulation and price increase for consumers is a concern for the chamber,” said Anne Arundel County Chamber of Commerce President Mark Kleinschmidt. “We understand the importance of maintaining the environment, particularly keeping plastic out of the bay, but the extra costs and logistical challenges are a concern. Most of the surrounding area has some sort of plastic bag regulation; we are going to have to adapt to the balance of environmental objectives with economic realities.”

Despite the potential impacts to businesses, Savidge said that the aesthetic effects of the act will be seen almost immediately.

“It’s only one step towards the future, a plastic-free feature that we need to get to. We were there a generation or two ago, and we’ve gotten to the point where we have so much single-use plastics in our entire production and waste stream that doesn’t need to be there,” he said.

Have a news tip? Contact Benjamin Rothstein at brothstein@baltsun.com, 443-928-1926.