This annoys me massively. Not on it’s own merits, although I am that person who reuses grocery bags so many times they fall into shreds., but because there are some very, very serious problems in this city right now and this is an example of the lack of seriousness of the people elected to office in this city. I will absolutely not pay this fee and will pretty much never shop in NYC anymore. I already go to New Jersey for most things but now I will get everything there.
My small city has had a plastic bag ban for over 2 years. I don’t even notice anymore. I have one or 2 lightweight nylon bags in my purse or tote as well as several grocery style bags in the car. My fruit, veggie, and meat go into flimsy plastic bags at the store and I can wash the reusable bags whenever.
Most of my reusable bags have been picked up on my travels, so I smile when I see Monoprix or Oktoberfest or Galleries Lafayette on them.
This is one of those things that people will fuss over for a short while and than actually start to pack their own re-useable bags. It’s just something you get in the habit of doing. I also have a pile of the small bags that roll up into next to nothing. I always have two in my purse. I stick one or two in the wash every week. They wash up well.
If you’ve ever shopped at Aldi’s, you’ll see what how just a tiny bit of money changes behavior. At Aldi’s you pay a quarter for the use of a shopping cart. You get your money back when you return it to the chute. I’ve never seen a cart in the parking lot of one of those stores.
As much as some of us reuse them, it is a very good thing to get rid of as much of those plastic bags as possible. You see the shreds of them caught in a fence or on a tree branch for years and years. It is just inevitable that the more we use them, the more they fly around and cause trouble.
Not exactly innovative, they’ve been doing this in Europe, Australia, new Zealand and parts of Canada for years. An equivalent fee in England and Scotland result in a massive drop in the consumption of plastic bags. Long overdue.
Response to post #7, “The tax is, at its worst, a direct income reducer on the low income and the poor.” Purchases made with food stamps are exempt.
This seems to be a tax imposed on tourists. Most do not pack a reusable bag in their luggage. Do you when you travel? NYC is a major travel destination.
I always pack one of those bags that fold into its own pocket when I travel. Lightweight and very compact – take up almost no room at all. And they really come in handy when I visit places like San Francisco, because of the no plastic bag policy.
But so many visitors to NYC are not from the US.
“Also, many New Yorkers reuse their grocery plastic bags to line their trash cans. So now they’ll end up having to buy plastic bags for this purpose, which will be a net change of zero in terms of plastic bags used.” - Or they could just pay the dang nickel, just a teeny dent in NYC grocery bill.
No kidding. When I visit my kids, I bring as many plastic bags that will fit into my suitcase so I can reuse them as trash liners here in CA. Otherwise I will need to buy plastic bags for my wastebaskets. And I have before I started bringing their bags home with me.
I use the small nylon bags frequently, as HI has that fee for bags as well. I only keep canvas bags in the cars, because heat and UV aren’t as tough on them as nylon. We get airline miles or $.03-.05 back at some grocery stores and just not charged for store bags at others.
We do reuse our plastic bags. The small ones the newspaper is delivered in and the ones we put meat and produce in we use for throwing away food scraps like fruit peels, etc. Larger plastic bags are used to line trash cans in the house. We keep getting plastic bags when we have takeout or we can’t finish a meal and get a carry out container.
Personally, don’t see much plastic/paper bag litter reduction.
I use reusable grocery bags on the weekends when I can grab the bags from home. I much prefer them over disposable plastic ones, because they’re sturdier, are easier to pack, and have long enough straps to hang on my shoulders.
Since I started bringing my own bags, I’ve had to buy small plastic trash bags.
It does not matter if food stamps are exempt because, in many cases, the price increase (tax) is paid at the register for items, not necessarily as a visible separate tax.
Specifically, if the cost is in the foods stuff price, the food stamp users still pay by being able to purchase less food units per dollar. Additionally, not all low income people are on food stamps. It affects anyone, even middle class people who are living paycheck to paycheck. Living paycheck to paycheck, which 50% of American do, is still a poor economic condition, even if you make mid five figures.
Ironically, an economist for AEI explains the same using Hollywood stars and others who trumpet others limiting their lives to save the environment, while their (the stars’) lives are unchanged.
There is a reverse logic too in that there is a lot of money to be made on these programs, so the rich get richer, and people have no idea that they are making the rich richer, while limiting their own lives.
I know a couple people who have huge businesses and make $gazillions processing supposedly recyclables for government agencies and private companies. We always laugh at how much it is a joke, as much of this is mandated to be done, but costs more to do than it returns, so the programs are demonstrable, calculable net losses.
These entities pay more to sort, process and clean these supposedly recyclables than it would if they were thrown out and new things bought - at the tune of over 2 1/2X higher costs. So who is paying this cost (tax)? Clearly, not government, as government has no money. It is also clearly not the companies either, as they still make the same profits or higher. It turns out that that there are surcharges on electric bills and the like to cover these fees, and the private companies raises prices or reduces quality or reduces portion size with static price (same as price increase per unit) to cover the cost. Therefore, the consumer pays the tax.
However, the most interesting aspect is that none of this has reduced the amount of waste. It has, in fact, just created a different toxic waste - which costs even more to discard properly. Plus, these recyclables take up much more “waste space” than a crumpled plastic bag and are filling dumps faster requiring more dump area. Thus, not only is more toxic waste being spewed in the atmosphere to process the recyclables, something a crushed plastic bag does not do, but consumers get to pay for it as well, with no reduction in amount of waste produced.
These are cases where you pay for something, got less in real terms, but feel good about yourself because the true costs are totally hidden to you. No wonder people do not know how to get rich; they are busy giving their money away and do not even know it.
@awcntdb don’t rain on my parade.
It makes me feel virtuous when my plastic bag usage is out of public sight. Just like when the child labor in Bangladesh used to sew my clothes is out of my sight.
They ring up the $0.5 sent plastic bag charge at the register. It’s not an additional add in to cost of goods beforehand.
I think tourists to NYC don’t do much grocery shopping and I don’t think there is a charge for a plastic bag if you buy something at a department store.
If one objects to the cost then switch to reusable bags. I’ve been using those for years and I don’t even get charged for plastic bags.
I hope this gets more people to switch. I would have many more plastic bags every week then I could possibly use as trash liners. I fill about 4 -5 reusable bags went I market which would be probably 20 plastic bags worth.
I detest those flimsy plastic bags anyway. They hold like 4 or 5 items and after doing a full grocery shop you end up with close to 20 bags. I never saved them as they had usually split at the seams by the time I got home.
I have 3 very large sturdy reusable bags - think they are the ones they sell by the register at TJ MAX or Marshalls - they are perfect. They hold a weeks worth of groceries. Yes, they end of being heavy but I can usually manage to get them into my trunk and then H or S will bring them in from the car.
33 - the stores get to keep the $.05 or whatever it is. It is not a "tax." I am still waiting for links to research that shows that reusable bags are to blame for uptick in food-borne diseases.
I’m a bit mixed on this bill because many NYC and Boston area residents I know do reuse the plastic grocery bags to line trashcans/wastebins including yours truly.
We also tend to shop on foot/using public transportation where carrying large amounts of reusable bags can be extremely impractical…especially during peak times.
Even when the bottle deposits do work in most areas, there are well-off* pockets of NYC and Boston where people would routinely throw away bottles/cans because they are economically privileged and/or too lazy to bother with the nickels or even dimes from each.
In the Boston area neighborhood I lived in, one roommate and I were considered a bit odd in being the only ones in our 6 unit building to return our bottles/cans for deposits. Everyone else would be inclined to trash them or give them to us when we went on our weekend bottle/can/shopping runs.
That and coupons saved us quite a bit on groceries/weekly budgets.
- I.e. Chelsea, Williamsburg, UES/UWS, LES, Back Bay, parts of Brookline, etc.
Keep in mind that for some, that nickel can make a difference in one’s weekly budget even if not on food stamps.
I reuse plastic grocery bags for used kitty litter but I don’t feel particularly virtuous about it because now they are going to end up in the landfill with the extra added attraction of used kitty litter sealed inside them. It’s not like I’m recycling them.