Plastic Bags to Be Banned in New York; Second Statewide Ban, After California

Authored by nytimes.com and submitted by edtsech
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ALBANY — New York State lawmakers have agreed to impose a statewide ban on most types of single-use plastic bags from retail sales, changing a way of life for millions of New Yorkers as legislators seek to curb an unsightly and omnipresent source of litter.

The plan, proposed a year ago by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, would be the second statewide ban, after California, which banned bags in 2016. Hawaii also effectively has a ban in place, since all the state’s counties bar such single-use bags.

New York’s ban, which would begin next March, would forbid stores to provide customers with single-use plastic bags, which are nonbiodegradable and have been blamed for everything from causing gruesome wildlife deaths to thwarting recycling efforts.

The ban, which is expected to be part of the state’s budget bills that are slated to be passed by Monday, would have a number of carveouts, including food takeout bags used by restaurants, bags used to wrap deli or meat counter products and bags for bulk items. Newspaper bags would also be exempted, as would garment bags and bags sold in bulk, such as trash or recycling bags.

PinkIce0226 on March 29th, 2019 at 13:58 UTC »

In Chicago they allow plastic bags but charge you for each one. So many people switched over to cloth bags to save 7 cents.

MAKKACHlN on March 29th, 2019 at 13:05 UTC »

Nooooo. I use those bags to line my garbage bins with. Now I have to buy actual garbage bags?

BingTeam on March 29th, 2019 at 12:14 UTC »

I feel like the bodega guy is still gonna put my single can of soda in like six plastic bags whether I ask him to or not