5 Cent Plastic Bag Fee Will Keep Our Environment Cleaner

May 4, 2009

Harry Nespoli, President of the Uniformed Sanitationmen’s Association, NYC Sanitation Commissioner John J. Doherty, Assembly Member Brian Kavanagh, State Senator Jose Serrano, and I are pictured here at a press conference April 30th to announce the introduction of legislation to curb the overuse of plastic bags.

The average American family uses 60 plastic bags in only four trips to the grocery store, but using just one tote bag instead eliminates 1,000 plastic bags from our waste system. Single-use plastic bags accumulate and persist on our planet for over 1,000 years. Plastic bags don’t biodegrade, they photodegrade—breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits that contaminate soil, waterways, and enter the food chain. New Yorkers throw out 5.2 billion (that’s “billion” with a “b”) plastic bags each and every year, causing irreversible environmental damage.

Last year, I distributed over one thousand free tote bags made from 100% recycled plastic bottles in my district and they became quite the fashion statement on the Upper East Side. I blogged about that effort in October of 2008, and I plan to do an even bigger push this year in my district.

On April 30th, State Senator Jose Serrano and I, joined by NYC Sanitation Commissioner John J. Doherty and the Director of the Mayor’s Office of Long Term Planning and Sustainability Rohit T. Aggarwala, announced the introduction of legislation (A.7844/S.4866) to place a nominal 5 cent fee on plastic carryout bags. The legislation is a program bill of Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Under the provisions of the act, any store that distributes plastic carryout bags that are less than 2.25 millimeters thick with handles will be required to assess the fee on customers and pass the revenue on to the City. The City anticipates an initial 10 percent reduction in plastic bag usage, while raising approximately $100 million in the first year alone.

At the end of the day, our bill is about encouraging people to change their habits when it comes to plastic bags, and there’s no better example to follow for this than the Emerald Isle. Ireland introduced a fee for plastic bags in 2002 and within weeks, use of plastic bags dropped by 94% as the Irish began to adjust to carrying tote bags to the store. Now using a plastic bag is socially unacceptable in Ireland. People are just more aware.

I believe that the same will happen here. New Yorkers are the kind of people who care deeply about their global and environmental impact. I predict that soon after this is implemented, the Big Apple will be known as the Big Green Apple, and that other jurisdictions in this country will follow our responsible lead.

The introduction of the bill was covered extensively by media, including an article in the Daily News (”Law would cost you some paper if you chose plastic bags“), a short piece in the New York Post (”Bid to Push Nickel Bags“), and a mention in a New York Times editorial about the Mayor’s Executive Budget, which endorses the bill, calling it “compelling.”

The NYC Audubon Society, the New York League of Conservation Voters, the Environmental Defense Fund, and the Natural Resources Defense Council joined us at the press conference to offer their support.