Blog City Budget

The Time is Right for New York City to Act on Plastic Bags

April 16, 2018

In February 2017, New York State pre-empted the New York City carryout bag fee which had been enacted by the City Council by imposing a moratorium on the City’s law.  In his message approving the law that halted the City’s program, Governor Andrew Cuomo promised to convene a task force to recommend a statewide solution.  Neither the task force nor Governor Cuomo has put forth a formal recommendation for a statewide program.  With Earth Day next week, the time is right for the City to, once again, act on this issue.

The City legislation would have instituted a 5 cent fee on single-use bags, with retailers keeping the revenue.  In March 2018, Mayor Bill de Blasio voiced support for a plastic bag ban instead of a fee.1  However, plastic bag bans can be less effective than fees if consumers simply switch to other single-use bags, including paper bags.2  The economic incentive of a fee can lead to behavior change and spur the use of reusable bags.3 As noted in the state task force report and by environmentalists, a hybrid ban on plastic bags along with a fee on alternatives would be more effective than a simple ban.4

The Problem

Plastic bags are a recognized environmental problem.5  Plastic bags make up about 2 percent of the City’s residential waste stream according to the Department of Sanitation (DSNY).   Based on the 2017 Waste Characterization Study, there were about 71,000 tons of plastic bags in the waste stream; these bags are landfilled with the rest of the City’s waste at a cost of $12.1 million each year.6

Once landfilled, plastic bags take well over 500 years to decompose. Additionally, countless bags never make it to the waste stream and instead litter streets and waterways.  However, switching to paper bags is not the answer as there are environmental concerns with their production as well.[7] While paper bags will degrade if landfilled, they require substantial water to produce and are heavier to transport than single-use plastic bags, leading to higher associated greenhouse gas emissions.8 Fees and taxes on single-use plastic bags in jurisdictions in the United States, Canada, and Europe have been shown to substantially reduce their usage.9

The City’s Carryout Bag Fee

Local Law 63 of 2016 established a fee of at least 5 cents on carryout bags at covered stores; the fee was to be retained by the retailer.10  Certain bags were excluded including those used to carry produce, meats, dry goods, and other food to the register or to prevent contact with other items; bags used to carry prescription drugs; and garment bags. The bill covered grocery stores, green carts, pharmacies, drug stores, home center and hardware stores, and office supply stores.11 Restaurants, liquor stores, food carts, and food pantries were excluded.  Individuals using government benefits for the purchase of food were exempted from the fee.12  The law established time periods during which stores could distribute reusable bags to customers at no cost.

The City Council passed the bill 28 to 20, a fairly narrow margin for that body.  Opposition to the legislation centered on two issues: a) the burden the fee would place on New Yorkers, especially those with low incomes, and b) retention of the fee revenue by the retailers.13 State Senator Simcha Felder, a vocal opponent of the City’s law, was quoted as saying the fee was “an effort to ‘shake them down every time they shop just for the privilege of using a plastic bag.’”14

The goal of the fee was not to raise revenue, but to provide an incentive for shoppers to use reusable bags for which they face no usage charge.  Plastic bag fees have been successful in reducing use in Ireland and in Washington, D.C., Chicago, and localities in California, showing that economic incentives can be effective for achieving behavior change.15 Furthermore, the decision to allow retailers to keep the fee was a way to circumvent the City’s inability to establish a tax without State approval.  The State could have authorized the City to assess a tax and direct revenue to environmental efforts.

The State Reacts

The State Legislature passed a bill establishing a moratorium on the adoption or implementation of a law charging a fee for carryout merchandise bags, which Governor Cuomo signed on February 14, 2017.16  The approval message called the City’s program “deeply flawed” in part because it allowed retailers to retain the fee.  The Governor wrote that a statewide task force would be established and “because this matter requires expeditious action…will conclude with a report and proposed legislation” by the end of the year.17  

Governor Cuomo appointed the statewide task force in March 2017, which held meetings and issued its report on January 13, 2018.18  The task force report was widely panned by environmentalists for not putting forth a  recommendation—in fact, the report put forth eight options ranging from stay the course (do nothing) to a hybrid option to ban plastic bags and charge fees on other bags.19

In the meantime, two other bag fees modeled after the City’s program, in Long Beach and Suffolk County, were permitted to go into effect by the State Legislature and other municipalities, including Yonkers and Sea Cliff, are pursuing similar fees.20

Where Should We Go From Here?

The State is unlikely to act on this issue again.  Speaker of the State Assembly Carl Heastie has stated that “we won’t interfere with that [banning plastic bags],” which may clear the way for a City ban to take effect, if reauthorized.21 So, it is time for the City to revisit the issue.  Mayor de Blasio has indicated he intends to begin discussions with Speaker Corey Johnson and the New York City Council.22

It has been shown that a ban on plastic bags is most effective when accompanied by a fee on alternatives.23 Such an initiative has been proposed by State Senators Liz Krueger and Brad Hoylman, who introduced a bill to ban single-use plastic bags and institute a fee on paper and reusable bags.[24]  Without the economic incentive to bring reusable bags to the store, bans tend to shift consumers from one type of bag to another rather than reducing the use of single-use bags.25  The City should act again on this issue and a local ban on plastic bags, coupled with a fee on alternatives, should be adopted.  A similar effort in Los Angeles led to a 94 percent reduction in single-use bags and cost less than $4 per resident per year.[26]

By Ana Champeny

Footnotes

  1. Erin Durkin, “De Blasio renews call for plastic bag ban: ‘The state is behind the curve here,’” New York Daily News (March 4, 2018), www.nydailynews.com/new-york/de-blasio-renews-call-plastic-bag-ban-article-1.3854558.
  2. Jennie Romer, “Why Carryout Bag Fees Are More Effective than Plastic Bag Bans,” Huffington Post (February 15, 2017), https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/why-carryout-bag-fees-are-better-than-plastic-bag-bans_us_588187ace4b08f5134b61f79.  Chicago’s plastic bag ban, which banned bags based on thickness, resulted in stores simply providing thicker single-use bags.  The ban was repealed and a 7 cent tax was instituted, which was credited with a reduction in use of single-use bags. See: New York State Plastic Bag Task Force Report, An Analysis of the Impact of Single-Use Plastic Bags: Options for New York State Plastic Bag Legislation (January 13, 2018), p. 11, www.dec.ny.gov/docs/materials_minerals_pdf/dplasticbagreport2017.pdf.
  3. Jennie Romer, “Why Carryout Bag Fees Are More Effective than Plastic Bag Bans,” Huffington Post (February 15, 2017), https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/why-carryout-bag-fees-are-better-than-plastic-bag-bans_us_588187ace4b08f5134b61f79.  The Washington D.C. fee on single-use paper and plastic bags is credited with reducing the use of single-use bags and increasing the use of reusable bags.  See: New York State Plastic Bag Task Force Report, An Analysis of the Impact of Single-Use Plastic Bags: Options for New York State Plastic Bag Legislation (January 13, 2018), p. 10, www.dec.ny.gov/docs/materials_minerals_pdf/dplasticbagreport2017.pdf.
  4. New York State Plastic Bag Task Force Report, An Analysis of the Impact of Single-Use Plastic Bags: Options for New York State Plastic Bag Legislation (January 13, 2018), p. 22, www.dec.ny.gov/docs/materials_minerals_pdf/dplasticbagreport2017.pdf.
  5. For a detailed discussion of this topic, see: New York State Plastic Bag Task Force Report, An Analysis of the Impact of Single-Use Plastic Bags: Options for New York State Plastic Bag Legislation (January 13, 2018), www.dec.ny.gov/docs/materials_minerals_pdf/dplasticbagreport2017.pdf.
  6. City of New York, Department of Sanitation, 2017 NYC Residential, School and NYCHA Waste Characterization Study (2018), p. 34, http://dsny.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2017-Waste-Characterization-Study.pdf; and City of New York, Mayor’s Office of Operations, Mayor’s Management Report (September 2017), p. 128, http://www1.nyc.gov/assets/operations/downloads/pdf/mmr2017/2017_mmr.pdf.  Cost is annual tonnage of 70,800 multiplied by the per ton disposal cost of $171 in 2016 (the most recent data available). The volume of plastic bags in the waste stream is declining, which DSNY attributes to bags made of thinner materials, as well as the State’s bag recycling program.  Consumer behavior is also a contributing factor.  As New Yorkers increasingly utilize Internet retailers, including Fresh Direct, the volume of corrugated cardboard in the waste stream increases, while the volume of plastic bags decreases.  Households went from discarding an average of 60 pounds of plastic bags per year in 2005 to 36 pounds in 2017.  Conversely, the volume of corrugated cardboard increased from 70 pounds per household in 2005 to 112 pounds in 2017.   
  7. New York State Plastic Bag Task Force Report, An Analysis of the Impact of Single-Use Plastic Bags: Options for New York State Plastic Bag Legislation (January 13, 2018), p. 8, www.dec.ny.gov/docs/materials_minerals_pdf/dplasticbagreport2017.pdf; and Equinox Center, Plastic Bag Bans: Analysis of Economic and Environmental Impacts (October 2013), https://energycenter.org/sites/default/files/Plastic-Bag-Ban-Web-Version-10-22-13-CK.pdf.
  8. Some municipalities require paper bags be made partly from recycled materials. Ben Adler, “Banning Plastic Bags is Great for the World, Right? Not So Fast,” Wired (June 10, 2016), www.wired.com/2016/06/banning-plastic-bags-great-world-right-not-fast/.
  9. New York City Council, Briefing Paper of the Infrastructure Division, Committee on Sanitation and Solid Waste Management (May 4, 2016), pp. 5-7, http://legistar.council.nyc.gov/View.ashx?M=F&ID=4424512&GUID=7E4CF794-EB2D-4011-8F5E-A4D88FA6F338.
  10. New York City Local Law 63 of 2016, http://legistar.council.nyc.gov/View.ashx?M=F&ID=4559943&GUID=A7063A49-6759-4EA8-B640-93364AB175E6 and Local Law 81 of 2016, http://legistar.council.nyc.gov/View.ashx?M=F&ID=4645672&GUID=6DECA55B-4C5D-4650-8EC7-13EABE2F63CC.  Originally set to take effect on October 1, 2016, the City Council delayed the effective date by six months until February 15, 2017.   
  11. Green carts are mobile carts that sell fresh produce and are licensed by New York City.  City of New York, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, NYC Green Carts (Accessed March 20, 2018), http://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/health/health-topics/green-carts.page.  
  12. The programs include the supplemental nutrition assistance program and the special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children.
  13. Geoff Herbert, “NY Gov. Cuomo considering statewide ban on plastic bags,” Syracuse.com (March 7, 2018), http://www.syracuse.com/state/index.ssf/2018/03/ny_plastic_bags_ban_cuomo.html; and Erik Engquist, “A Heastie decision on plastic bag fees,” Crain’s New York Business The Insider Blog (February 7, 2017), www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20170207/BLOGS04/170209896/a-heastie-decision-on-plastic-bag-fees.
  14. Sarah Maslin Nir, “State Senate Takes Aim at Plastic Bag Fee in New York City,” New York Times (January 17, 2017), www.nytimes.com/2017/01/17/nyregion/plastic-bags-new-york.html.
  15. Jennie Romer, “Why Carryout Bag Fees Are More Effective than Plastic Bag Bans,” Huffington Post (February 15, 2017), https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/why-carryout-bag-fees-are-better-than-plastic-bag-bans_us_588187ace4b08f5134b61f79; New York State Plastic Bag Task Force Report, An Analysis of the Impact of Single-Use Plastic Bags: Options for New York State Plastic Bag Legislation (January 13, 2018), www.dec.ny.gov/docs/materials_minerals_pdf/dplasticbagreport2017.pdf; and Equinox Center, Plastic Bag Bans: Analysis of Economic and Environmental Impacts (October 2013), https://energycenter.org/sites/default/files/Plastic-Bag-Ban-Web-Version-10-22-13-CK.pdf.
  16. New York State Senate, S. 4158 (2017-2018 Session), http://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/bills/2017/S4158.
  17. New York State Plastic Bag Task Force Report, An Analysis of the Impact of Single-Use Plastic Bags: Options for New York State Plastic Bag Legislation (January 13, 2018), pp. 25-26, www.dec.ny.gov/docs/materials_minerals_pdf/dplasticbagreport2017.pdf.
  18. New York State Plastic Bag Task Force Report, An Analysis of the Impact of Single-Use Plastic Bags: Options for New York State Plastic Bag Legislation (January 13, 2018), www.dec.ny.gov/docs/materials_minerals_pdf/dplasticbagreport2017.pdf.
  19. Samar Khurshid, “After Superseding City, Cuomo’s Plastic Bag Panel Punts,” Gotham Gazette (January 17, 2018), http://www.gothamgazette.com/city/7424-after-superseding-city-cuomo-s-plastic-bag-panel-punts; New York City Council Member Brad Lander, “Governor Cuomo Has Failed to Deliver a Solution for Plastic Bags (Or Even a Proposal)” (press statement, January 13, 2018), http://bradlander.nyc/cuomoplasticbagfail; and New York League of Conservation Voters, “NYLCV’s Marcia Bystryn Disappointed by Governor’s Single Use Bag Task Force Report” (press release, January 13, 2018), http://nylcv.org/press-item/nylcvs-marcia-bystryn-disappointed-governors-single-use-bag-task-force-report/.
  20. The state moratorium only applied to cities with a population over 1 million. Suffolk County, “Suffolk County’s Bag Law,” (accessed March 20, 2018), http://suffolkcountyny.gov/Departments/HealthServices/PublicHealth/PublicHealthProtection/PlasticBagLaw.aspx; The City of Long Beach, NY, “Long Beach Carryout Bag Ordinance” (accessed March 20, 2018), http://longbeachny.gov/bags; Ernie Garcia, “Yonkers considers plastic-bag ‘impact fee,’” lohud.com (March 19, 2018), www.lohud.com/story/news/local/westchester/yonkers/2018/03/19/yonkers-considers-plastic-bag-fee/437315002/; and Angelique D’Alessandro, “Sea Cliff approves ban on carry-out plastic bags in stores,” Newsday (March 18, 2018), www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/sea-cliff-plastic-bag-ban-1.17423095.
  21. Jillian Jorgensen and Glenn Blain, “Cuomo finally warms up to ban on plastic shopping bags after criticism from NYC pols,” New York Daily News (March 5, 2018), www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/cuomo-ban-plastic-shopping-bags-article-1.3857444; and Nick Reisman, “Potential Plastic Bag Ban Picking Up Steam,” Spectrum News (March 8, 2018), http://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/central-ny/politics/2018/03/08/potential-plastic-bag-ban-picking-up-steam.
  22. Erin Durkin, “De Blasio renews call for plastic bag ban: ‘The state is behind the curve here,’” New York Daily News (March 4, 2018), www.nydailynews.com/new-york/de-blasio-renews-call-plastic-bag-ban-article-1.3854558.
  23. New York State Plastic Bag Task Force Report, An Analysis of the Impact of Single-Use Plastic Bags: Options for New York State Plastic Bag Legislation (January 13, 2018), p. 22, www.dec.ny.gov/docs/materials_minerals_pdf/dplasticbagreport2017.pdf.
  24. The legislation would institute a statewide ban on plastic carryout bags and place a fee (between $0.10 and $0.25 per bag) on paper carryout and reusable bags; individuals paying with benefits received through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) nutrition program would be exempt from the fee. Retailers would keep 20 percent of the revenue to defray their costs, while the remaining 80 percent would be directed to the state Environmental Protection Fund. See: Senator Liz Krueger, “Krueger and Hoylman Announce Bill Addressing Plastic Bag Pollution” (press release, February 26, 2018), www.nysenate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/liz-krueger/krueger-and-hoylman-announce-bill-addressing-plastic-bag; and New York State Senate, S. 7760 (2017-2018 Session), www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2017/s7760.
  25. Jennie Romer, “Why Carryout Bag Fees Are More Effective than Plastic Bag Bans,” Huffington Post (February 15, 2017), https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/why-carryout-bag-fees-are-better-than-plastic-bag-bans_us_588187ace4b08f5134b61f79.
  26. The County of Los Angeles ordinance banned single-use plastic carryout bags and charged a 10 cent fee on recyclable paper bags. Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, Implementation of the County of Los Angeles Plastic and Paper Carryout Bag Ordinance (November 2012), http://dpw.lacounty.gov/epd/aboutthebag/PDF/Bag%20Ban%20Status%20Nov%202012.pdf.