EBS STAFF
Beginning May 1, 2025, Bozeman businesses will be fined for the sale or distribution of any container made of polystyrene foam, any single-use plastic bag, or any single-use plastic straw or beverage stirrer.
Bozeman voters chose to enact the Bozeman Plastics Ordinance with 17,698 votes in favor and 10,157 against, according to unofficial results updated Thursday morning by the Gallatin County Elections Office. The city will modify chapter 16 of the Bozeman Municipal Code.
According to reporting by the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, it was “a fraught path” to get the ordinance on the ballot, especially after the Montana Legislature passed House Bill 407 in 2021 to ban communities and citizens from regulating single-use plastics through ballot initiatives.
Bozeman’s Cottonwood Environmental Law Center filed two suits, one in 2023 against the State of Montana and another in 2024 against the City of Bozeman and Gallatin County Elections Office to resolve a disagreement regarding the threshold of required petition signatures—election officials settled the case to avoid potential “significant expense” to taxpayers if ballots should need to be reprinted, according to reporting by Montana Free Press.
Just weeks before the election, the initiative made it onto Bozeman’s ballot, and voters responded with approval.
Some exceptions do exist for the new rule, and details are outlined in the ordinance petition. Violators will be fined $1,000 for first offense, and $2,000 for any subsequent offenses.
Straws made of non-plastic materials such as metal, glass, pasta, sugar cane, wood or bamboo will not be subject to the ban. The ban will not apply to plastic bags provided to customers to package loose items such as fruits and vegetables, nuts, coffee grounds, or other small items; nor will it apply to plastic bags used for frozen foods, meat and fish, flowers or potted plants, or other items to contain dampness, according to the petition.
