LAS CRUCES - If you go grocery shopping this weekend, remember to bring reusable bags. Your wallet will thank you.

That's because most retailers in Las Cruces will be prohibited from providing shoppers with single-use plastic bags at checkout, due to a new city ordinance going into effect Jan. 1.

The city ordinance enacting the bag ban was adopted unanimously by the Las Cruces City Council in August 2021, following a comment period which solicited feedback from the public and businesses.

Las Cruces Communications Director Mandy Guss said the city has been contacting numerous affected businesses, from big box chains to locally owned stores, to remind them of the upcoming ban. The city has also engaged in a social media advertisement campaign to inform the public.

The Las Cruces Police Department's Codes Enforcement Section will be responsible for enforcing the new ban, Guss said, though she added officers will prioritize education over citations and fines.

The bag ban will apply to all retailers except restaurants, food trucks, food banks and nonprofits which provide groceries, household goods and clothing.

Retailers in Las Cruces will be allowed to provide only 40 percent "post-consumer recycled content" paper bags, reusable cloth or fabric bags or recycled cardboard boxes to customers under the new law.

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For those retailers who choose to provide shoppers with paper bags at checkout, they will need to charge customers a 10-cent fee per paper bag. Half of the revenue collected by each store from the fee will be given to the city, with the other half allowed to be kept by the retailer as a means to offset costs associated with supplying paper bags.

The city will use its share of the fee revenue to educate the public about the bag ordinance and sustainability and to purchase reusable bags for members of the public.

Retailers will also be required to report to the city quarterly the number of paper bags given to customers and the amount of fee revenue collected.

Customers who receive assistance through a number of government safety net programs, such as welfare or food stamps, won't have to pay the paper bag fee.

Certain types of plastic bags will be exempt from the ban, such as prescription drug bags, dry cleaning bags, bulk bags for grocery items such as meat, bakery goods or produce, packages of garbage, yard waste or pet waste bags or newspaper bags.

Toucan Market, a locally owned grocery store on University Avenue, has already stocked up on paper bags to give customers an option should they forget to bring a reusable bag. Toucan Market also plans to sell reusable tote bags to shoppers.

Rob Baur, part-owner of Toucan, said he believes the ban will likely impact customers, especially the elderly on a fixed income, more than his business.

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At the Target on Lohman Avenue, a spokesperson said the store will continue to have paper bags and reusable bags available for purchase if shoppers do not bring their own bags. The spokesperson said Target shoppers will receive a 5-cent discount at checkout for each reusable bag they use.

Walmart, which has four Las Cruces locations, will also sell paper bags and reusable bags to shoppers who don't bring their own bags, a spokesperson told the Sun-News. Sam's Club, a wholesale chain, already doesn't use plastic bags.

A spokesperson for grocery chain Albertsons said Las Cruces stores will similarly offer paper bags to shoppers for a fee, in line with the ordinance. Albertsons will continue to sell reusable bags to shoppers as well.

Michael McDevitt is a city and county government reporter for the Sun-News. He can be reached at 575-202-3205, mmcdevitt@lcsun-news.com or @MikeMcDTweets on Twitter.