City pols hope to reduce waste with plastic bag charge
If you love your plastic and paper bags, then you might want to stockpile them at home for ready re-use because several city councilmembers have teamed up to push for legislation that would require grocery and retail stores to charge customers a minimum of $0.10 (10 cents) per bag.
The effort is part of an election season campaign to protect the environment with reduced plastic bag usage, save New York City and its taxpayers approximately $10 million a year in sanitation and recycling costs, and get New Yorkers used to the idea of reusing their own plastic/paper/cloth bags instead of relying on getting new ones every time they go to the store.
“It can be easy to forget the impact we each have on the environment – an impact that really adds up when you have a city of eight million people,” said Councilmember Brad Lander. “The truth is, there are a lot of times that we don’t really need a plastic bag. This common sense legislation will help New York cut plastic bag waste, both saving money and reducing litter, without effecting small businesses.”