BY LOGAN HENDRIX & LINCOLN ANDERSON | Many councilmembers are in favor of a bill calling for a 10-cent fee on disposal paper and plastic bags. Yet, it remains to be seen if the measure will garner enough support to become law.
The use of disposable paper and plastic bags increases when the holiday season is in full swing, the bill’s supporters note. This influx adds to the amount of plastic bags the Department of Sanitation collects every week.
To cut back on such single-use bags, the bill was proposed by City Council prime co-sponsors Margaret Chin and Brad Lander. The surcharge of a dime on disposable plastic and paper bags would apply to convenience stores, supermarkets and delis.
The legislation’s opponents, including Councilmember Rosie Mendez, are concerned about the burden it could pose on the poor and senior citizens on fixed incomes, as well as those who must separate their food for religious reasons. Mendez also fears dog walkers may lose incentive to pick up after their dogs if forced to pay 10 cents per plastic bag.
Mendez spokesperson John Blasco said, “Unless there are further amendments to the proposed legislation, she is unable to sign her name as a co-sponsor.”
However, Chin spokesperson Sam Spokony said, “The bill would exempt anyone who’s on food stamps or using government assistance from paying the fee.
“What’s written into the legislation is something that addresses those specific concerns, which is that there would be reusable bags distributed and targeted specifically to low-income communities,” he added.
Spokony explained the basic steps of the education and outreach program.
“If you go to a store that’s under the legislation, here’s a reusable bag and here’s why you use one and you’d have the opportunity to avoid paying the fee,” he said.
On Fri., Dec. 12, the Citizens Committee for New York City, part of a coalition of groups backing the bill, will hold a reusable tote-bag giveaway at 9:30 a.m. near the C-Town, at Avenue C and E. 12th St., a supermarket used by many Alphabet City seniors on fixed incomes.
Peter Kostmayer, C.E.O. of the Citizens Committee, said the bill currently has 20 sponsors in the Council, and 26 are needed to pass it. He claimed additional commitments from four councilmembers who are keeping quiet about it, for fear of being “targeted by the plastic bag industry.”
“If New York City curbs plastic bag use, we’ll be the 144th municipality in the U.S. to do so,” Kostmayer said. “Better late than never, even if we are trailing North Carolina, Arizona and Texas. The bags can’t be recycled and have to be shipped out of the city to landfills at an annual cost of more than $12 million. That’s 17,000 tons of them a week, or 5.2 billion tons a year. A 10-cent fee will cut use dramatically and all you have to do is bring your own reusable bag. Let’s each do our part. Is that too much to ask?”
The tote bags are fair trade, made in the U.S.
“They’re really terrific bags,” he said.
Kostmayer is a former congressmember from Bucks County, Penn. Regarding food separation for the Orthodox Jewish community in Mendez’s district, he said Citizens Committee has consulted with a rabbi who assures them that if milk is in a bottle and meat is packaged in plastic wrap, it’s kosher if they’re not in separate bags.
“As long as they’re not touching, they’re O.K. is what we’ve been told,” he said.
Another option is to use reusable cloth bags for this, as well, noted Saleen Shah, a Citizens Committee organizer.
The group has given away 3,500 tote bags so far.
Before the bill even gets to the full City Council, however, it must pass the Council’s Sanitation Committee — and that’s not a sure thing, according to Shah. The Citizens Committee is currently strongly lobbying a Bronx councilmember for his vote. The committee could vote this week or next.
