PLASTIC CARRIER BAGS
New York City retailers to charge 5 cents for plastic bags from October / Close vote in city council / Some exemptions / Anti-regulation attempts in some US states
New York’s City Council has passed legislation that will require retailers to charge 5 cents for a disposable bag made of plastic or paper from 1 October 2016. The long controversial bag charge reflects in part mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to achieve Zero Waste to Landfill by 2030. To sweeten the pill for shoppers, the city – in cooperation with retailers and non-profit organisations – plans to distribute free reusable bags in advance of the new rules taking effect.
Some exemptions to the charge will be permitted. Restaurants, including those that deliver and serve take-out, and street vendors of prepared food can continue providing bags at no charge. Plastic bags used for produce, small paper medicine bags at pharmacies, bags used at state-regulated liquor stores and bags used by soup kitchens will be exempted. Those buying groceries with food stamps will not have to pay anything.
The 28 to 20 council vote, which came after two years of debate on this particular bill and at least one other attempt by the city in the past to charge a fee or tax on disposable bags, was reportedly the closest in some time. Council members in favour of the fee argued that it would help the environment and would not burden shoppers, who would learn to accept the reusable bags. Some of the 20 members voting against the bill called it a tax, or were unhappy that businesses will be allowed to keep the revenue. One councillor from New York’s less affluent Brooklyn section said the charge, which was initially planned to be set at 10 cents but later halved to address concerns about the financial impact on shoppers, will unfairly punish the poor.
Mayor de Blasio praised the Council for its support of his agenda. It “strikes the right balance, reducing reliance on single-use bags and incentivising the use of reusable bags, while safeguarding consumers with some logical exemptions to protect vulnerable New Yorkers,” he said, adding that the city’s Department of Sanitation projects the fee could reduce plastic and paper bag waste by approximately 60%, based on the experiences of other municipalities. The legislation is modelled on similar laws in California and Washington DC.
According to the Council, the New York Sanitation Department collects some 10 bn single-use plastic bags a year, and the city spends more than USD 12m annually to ship 91,000 t of plastic and paper bags to out-of-state landfills. Underscoring that the charge is not anti-plastic, the legislation’s sponsors said paper bags were included because they have an environmental impact, too. If they were not included, shoppers would simply switch from plastic to paper, resulting in no change in overall waste. However, di Blasio, during a radio interview to promote the bill, said, “people must stop using plastic bags, for the good of our environment.”
New York’s attempts to regulate plastic bags date back to a 2008 proposal by former mayor Michael Bloomberg for a 6-cent bag fee, of which one cent would have flowed into the city’s coffers. Bloomberg later dropped the ball to strong opposition. All other timid efforts in this direction have met with equally fierce opposition, not only from plastic bag manufacturers organised in the American Progressive Bag Alliance (ABPA), an affiliate of SPI: the Plastics Industry Trade Association (Washington DC / USA; www.plasticsindustry.org), but also from those arguing that it is an undue burden on consumers, especially the poor.
One long-time opponent of bag charges is Simcha Felder, who sat on the New York City Council during the Bloomberg administration. Now a state senator, Felder has introduced a bill that would prohibit bag fees at a state level. Explaining his opposition, the senator has called the fee “a regressive tax,” disproportionately affecting low-income and minority New Yorkers. He also called reusable bags a “health hazard.” Across the US, Felder is not alone. Proponents of free plastic bags in some states already have pushed through bans on banning the bags, including Florida and Arizona. Similar legislation is said to be pending in other states.
Some exemptions to the charge will be permitted. Restaurants, including those that deliver and serve take-out, and street vendors of prepared food can continue providing bags at no charge. Plastic bags used for produce, small paper medicine bags at pharmacies, bags used at state-regulated liquor stores and bags used by soup kitchens will be exempted. Those buying groceries with food stamps will not have to pay anything.
The 28 to 20 council vote, which came after two years of debate on this particular bill and at least one other attempt by the city in the past to charge a fee or tax on disposable bags, was reportedly the closest in some time. Council members in favour of the fee argued that it would help the environment and would not burden shoppers, who would learn to accept the reusable bags. Some of the 20 members voting against the bill called it a tax, or were unhappy that businesses will be allowed to keep the revenue. One councillor from New York’s less affluent Brooklyn section said the charge, which was initially planned to be set at 10 cents but later halved to address concerns about the financial impact on shoppers, will unfairly punish the poor.
Mayor de Blasio praised the Council for its support of his agenda. It “strikes the right balance, reducing reliance on single-use bags and incentivising the use of reusable bags, while safeguarding consumers with some logical exemptions to protect vulnerable New Yorkers,” he said, adding that the city’s Department of Sanitation projects the fee could reduce plastic and paper bag waste by approximately 60%, based on the experiences of other municipalities. The legislation is modelled on similar laws in California and Washington DC.
According to the Council, the New York Sanitation Department collects some 10 bn single-use plastic bags a year, and the city spends more than USD 12m annually to ship 91,000 t of plastic and paper bags to out-of-state landfills. Underscoring that the charge is not anti-plastic, the legislation’s sponsors said paper bags were included because they have an environmental impact, too. If they were not included, shoppers would simply switch from plastic to paper, resulting in no change in overall waste. However, di Blasio, during a radio interview to promote the bill, said, “people must stop using plastic bags, for the good of our environment.”
New York’s attempts to regulate plastic bags date back to a 2008 proposal by former mayor Michael Bloomberg for a 6-cent bag fee, of which one cent would have flowed into the city’s coffers. Bloomberg later dropped the ball to strong opposition. All other timid efforts in this direction have met with equally fierce opposition, not only from plastic bag manufacturers organised in the American Progressive Bag Alliance (ABPA), an affiliate of SPI: the Plastics Industry Trade Association (Washington DC / USA; www.plasticsindustry.org), but also from those arguing that it is an undue burden on consumers, especially the poor.
One long-time opponent of bag charges is Simcha Felder, who sat on the New York City Council during the Bloomberg administration. Now a state senator, Felder has introduced a bill that would prohibit bag fees at a state level. Explaining his opposition, the senator has called the fee “a regressive tax,” disproportionately affecting low-income and minority New Yorkers. He also called reusable bags a “health hazard.” Across the US, Felder is not alone. Proponents of free plastic bags in some states already have pushed through bans on banning the bags, including Florida and Arizona. Similar legislation is said to be pending in other states.
18.05.2016 Plasteurope.com [234075-0]
Published on 18.05.2016