NYC lawmakers approve 5-cent fee for plastic bags

Associated Press

NEW YORK

Every minute of every day, usually without thinking, thousands of New Yorkers reach across the counter at shops and supermarkets and accept a disposable plastic bag. The city’s sanitation department estimates 10 billion bags a year are tossed in the trash – roughly 19,000 per minute.

Now, city officials are poised to test whether a 5-cent charge can wean New Yorkers from the convenient but environmentally unfriendly sacks.

The city council approved a bill Thursday that would require most merchants to charge customers at least a nickel for each bag, including those made of paper. Technically, the fee isn’t a tax. Stores will get to keep the money they collect.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has a goal of sending zero waste to landfills by 2030, said he will sign the bill, which will take effect Oct. 1. He said the legislation “strikes the right balance, reducing reliance on single-use bags and incentivizing the use of reusable bags.”

Supporters are hoping the extra charge will force New Yorkers to think twice about accepting a bag and perhaps to start bringing their own, even if they’re plastic. And that, they say, might help reduce the number of bags filling landfills and blowing into trees and waterways – as they now do constantly in the city.

Some New Yorkers interviewed as they ran errands this week said they weren’t so sure how they would adapt, especially in a city where most people are shopping on foot rather than by car.

“A lot of times I leave work, if I’m on the way home, I don’t have time to have a bag with me,” said Pat Tomasso, 70, who has a neon-sign business.

Todd Killinger, 47, who works in advertising, said it’s a good idea. “After a time, I think people will switch and bring their own bags, but initially not so much,” he said.

If the law is enacted, New York City will join more than 150 other municipalities around the country that have passed ordinances either to ban single-use plastic bags or to charge a fee for them.