NEW YORK – New York’s ban on single-use plastic bags went into effect earlier this year, but the state will officially begin enforcing the rule on Monday.
A state law that went into effect on March 1 prohibits many types of businesses from using the thin plastic bags that have been clogging landfills, trapped in trees and accumulated in lakes and seas. Single-use paper bags are still allowed, but counties have the option of imposing a 5-cent fee.
Families using food stamps will be exempt from the paper bag fee, and the New York ban also exempts bags used to carry takeout to restaurants, plastic bags used to wrap meat and those used for prepared foods.
The Department of Environmental Conservation agreed to delay enforcement of the law until Monday as the state fought to have a court reject a form submitted by a plastic bag manufacturer and convenience store owners. And amid the COVID-19 pandemic, some retailers have banned customers from bringing reusable bags that New York lawmakers hope to promote.
“The New York bag ban has already improved New York’s health by reducing plastic pollution. We hope that the state will begin to enforce the law and that stores will comply with this important law, “said the deputy director of an environmental watchdog organization, Environmental Advocates NY, Kate Kurera, in a statement Sunday.
Plastic bag manufacturers and convenience store owners had argued that New York’s ban on plastic bags would bankrupt their industries. And they argued that the court should scrap the entire ban because state regulators needed a legislative permit for its exemption for thicker plastic bags.
State Supreme Court Justice Gerald Connolly in August ordered New York to strike down a portion of the plastic bag ban regulations that some environmental activists worried that retailers would eventually deliver a bag several times thicker than the one provided at Macy’s and shopping centers.
Judge Connolly said those opponents failed in their arguments to overturn New York’s plastic bag ban in light of the current COVID-19 crisis.
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