​Plastic Bag Ban

Plastic Bag Ban

4/23/2019

By Cedric Scott

This year Governor Andrew Cuomo introduced a bill that would ban all single-use, plastic carryout bags in New York State. This action follows the release of the New York State Plastic Bags Task Force report in January, which showed how negatively plastic bags impacted the environment.

A ban on single use plastic carryout bags will significantly reduce waste and have many environmental impacts. “In New York City alone it is estimated that nearly $12.5 million will be saved,” according to MSN.com. This is money is normally spent on disposal costs, by reducing the number of single-use plastic bags we use the more money well have to invest in other programs. These costs do not include the significant cleanup costs to remove plastic through litter collection programs and beach and ocean cleanup efforts. In addition, the ban will reduce the raw materials and natural resources used to make, transport, and recycle these bags. Less carryout bags given away at checkout which could result in decreased recycling and disposal costs for municipalities and municipal recycling facilities.

There are currently 10 cities, towns, and villages in New York have enacted plastic bag bans. With this ban enacted, cities in New York are bound to flourish with less money being spent on disposable bags and lower pollution rates.

2 Comments

Jason Taylor

4/24/2019 06:45:18 am

Cedric,

Thanks for covering the "bag ban." It's interesting that the angle of your article is on the economic savings municipalities may enjoy from banning single-use plastic bags. I had not considered that angle before.

https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2019/04/09/711181385/are-plastic-bag-bans-garbage

You may find the above link of interest. It's from NPR's planet money podcast. According to them, paper and reusable tote bags have their own environmental costs. Noticeably, consumers must reuse paper or reusable tote bags "X" number of times before they have less of an environmental impact than a single-use plastic bag. That is certainly news to me. However, I feel like I need to actually read the studies the NPR article cites to truly understand the environmental impact of each kind of bag.

I don't think it's useful to throw one's hands in the air and say "What's the point? Anything I do is bad for the environment." We all have our part to play, and I'm interested in seeing what I can do to be a better steward of this planet. If that means taking steps to ensure that I reuse a single bag every time I go grocery shopping, then I think that's a fair "price" to pay.

Brady Fergusson

5/8/2019 08:17:21 am

Thanks for sharing this information and expressing the significance of the ban.

Plastic Bag Ban