CITY HALL – Yesterday, the City Council passed legislation to require retail stores to impose a fee of no less than five cents for plastic and other bags provided to customers.
New York City pays an estimated $12.5 million to transport 91,000 tons of plastic bags and paper carry-out bags to landfills in other states each year. New Yorkers use 9.37 billion carryout bags per year, the vast majority of which are not recycled. Plastic bags get stuck in storm drains, exacerbating flooding and sewage discharges into waterways, and are the fourth most commonly found type of litter on U.S. beaches.
Introduction 209-A, sponsored by Council Members Margaret Chin and Brad Lander, would require retail and grocery stores to charge no less than 5 cents for plastic and other bags. The proposed charge would be retained by the store to cover the cost of providing bags and customers who bring their own bags would not be charged. The legislation also includes robust informational outreach components and requires giveaways of reusable, recyclable bags in local communities.
The bill includes exemptions for take-out or delivery orders from restaurants, produce, and prescription medications. In addition, stores must waive the charge for providing paper or plastic bags for transactions where the customer is using food stamps to avoid additional barriers to food security. Emergency food providers, such as food pantries, would be exempt from the charge.
The bill is expected to be signed into law by the Mayor on May 10. The measure would take effect on Oct. 1 — however, Council Member Chin and Lander plan to do many free bag giveaways and multi-lingual educational outreach before then in areas throughout our City.
“New York has never shied away from the goal of being an environmentally responsible city,” said Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito. “For too long, plastic bags have clogged our storm drains, littered our greenspaces, and tangled in our trees. With this legislation, we can take a step toward a cleaner and sustainable city by incentivizing New Yorkers to not to add to the billions of carry out bags currently being used each year.”
“The amended bill that we are voting on today is the result of months of discussions with my Council colleagues about how best to balance our need to reduce the billions of single-use bags discarded every year with our desire not to unfairly burden low-income New Yorkers,” said Council Member Margaret Chin (D-Lower Manhattan). In other cities, a small charge has been an effectively way to encourage more people to bring reusable bags and reduce single-use bag waste. I am incredibly grateful for the Speaker’s support, and for the support of a majority of my colleagues who want to create a better environment for current and future generations.”
“New York City is taking a big step forward to get rid of the 9 billion plastic bags we waste each year. Intro 209-A, the Bring Your Own Bag bill, will eliminate tens of thousands of tons of solid waste, save the City millions, reduce truck trips in communities of color, and help clean up our trees, parks, playgrounds, streets, beaches, oceans,” said Council Member Brad Lander (D-Park Slope). “In city after city, a small fee on single-use carryout bags has been overwhelmingly successful in getting people to bring their own reusable bags when they shop — across lines of race, income, and age — and generated a 60% to 90% drop in plastic bag waste. New Yorkers will start bringing reusable bags to avoid the fee, and together we will drastically cut back on the number of bags we use. Thank you to Council Member Margaret Chin and Council Member Antonio Reynoso for leading the way, and to Speaker Mark-Viverito and our Council colleagues for supporting this sensible policy to cut back on our plastic bag problem.”
