There's some confusion over the plastic bag ban that took effect on December 31. During a public hearing today a Guam Environmental Protection Agency representative said the law's not clear about how it should be applied when it comes to restaurants.

Guam EPA special projects coordinator Sabrina Sablan was asked for an update on the plastic bag ban. She said in more than 500 retail outlet compliance inspections just a handful, small mom and pop stores, were still using plastic bags. Then she mentioned there was some confusion over the restaurant industry, noting, "Based on the law they fall under an exemption, but it doesn't stipulate what type of plastic bag they can use, If they can just use the regular single use, or the biodegradables.

"Most everybody has switched off, but there's no definition."

But that caught the attention of chairperson Senator Sabina Perez. "I just want to be clear because the law states that disposable, carry-out plastic bags are banned even for food establishments," the policymaker said.

"The way we interpret that is that they're allowed to use the plastic bag. It's the same thing as like the bakery products, because they're not prepackaged food. So when you go into a restaurant the food is not really pre-packaged," she added.

"I think the intent of the law was to ban disposable carry-out plastic bags and allow the paper bags for the eating and drinking establishments for paper only, not plastics. So I can see why I guess that's confusing. We're seeing food establishments still distributing plastic bags when I think the intent of the law was to get rid of it, get rid of the plastic bags altogether."

The hearing today was actually for a bill by Perez that would extend the implementation of a paper bag ban to January 2023.

Macy's store manager Ryan Torres supports at least an extension because Guam would be the only one in the national store chain facing such a ban. He said, "It is very costly and takes a lot of time to understand the implications of sourcing whether it be here locally or off-island in getting a re-useable bag only for Macy's Guam."

Unique issues include how to maintain the bag branding of the iconic Macy's logo.