A bill that would impose the strongest statewide ban on everyday plastic products in the nation was approved by a Senate committee on Thursday.
The measure – S2776 – would ban plastic grocery store bags, Styrofoam food containers and plastic straws, all of which are often found in beach and riverfront cleanups across the state. It would also impose a 10-cent fee on paper bags at grocery stores.
“It requires New Jersey citizens to change their lifestyle,” said Bob Smith, D-Middlesex, the sponsor of the bill and chairman of the Senate environment committee.
The bill was moved forward by 4-to-1 vote. It is the first legislative move on the bill. It will go to the Senate Appropriations Committee and eventually to Senate President Steve Sweeney for consideration for a full house vote. It still needs to be heard in the Assembly.
The bill was hailed by environmentalists during a three-hour hearing Thursday who say it will significantly reduce plastic pollution in New Jersey.
Plastics have made up the vast majority of trash picked up each year from New Jersey’s beaches by the advocacy group Clean Ocean Action. A 2016 report by NY/NJ Baykeeper estimated that about 165 million pieces of plastic float at any one time from Sandy Hook to the Tappan Zee Bridge along with several other waterways that make up the NY/NJ Harbor Estuary.
Business groups oppose the bill, saying it will hurt their members and consumers. Dennis Hart of the Chemical Council of New Jersey said the bill would especially hurt restaurateurs, who would eventually have to pay more for plastic alternatives.
The move on Thursday comes a month after Gov. Phil Murphy vetoed a bill that would have placed a 5-cent fee on plastic grocery store bags, signaling his support for an outright ban. More than a dozen municipalities, including Jersey City and Hoboken, have passed local plastic bag bans this year that will soon go into effect despite heavy lobbying efforts against a statewide ban.
California and Hawaii have bans on plastic bags. Some cities and counties across the country have banned straws and Styrofoam containers. New York City’s Styrofoam container ban goes into effect Jan.1.
But New Jersey’s bill goes much further targeting three products.
The bill would allow restaurants to give plastic straws to people with disabilities, but advocates for that community says it needs to be made stronger. Smith said he’s willing to strengthen that part.
Smith also said he wants a small business exemption that would allow small grocers to apply for a year exemption to the bans if they can’t find any alternatives. Senator Kip Bateman, R-Somerset, suggested the 10-cent paper bag fee be phased in after the plastic bag ban goes into effect to lessen the sudden change to businesses.
At a public hearing on plastic bags, Senator Bob Smith makes a dramatic announcement. (Frank Brill photo)
By Frank Brill, EnviroPolitics Editor
In the middle of hours of testimony yesterday on what the New Jersey Legislature should do to curb environmental damage from throwaway plastic shopping bags, Styrofoam cups, and soda straws, Senator Bob Smith interrupted the testimony to deliver a news flash.
Gov. Phil Murphy, he was just informed, has decided to veto a bill (A-3267/S-2600) that would impose a 5-cent fee on plastic grocery bags. It had been, until that moment, the Legislature’s preferred solution to the problem of plastics.
The audience at an Aug. 23, 2018, legislative hearing on plastics n Toms River, NJ. (Frank Brill photo).
The announcement resulted in applause from dozens of environmentalists who packed the meeting with signs and costumes and murmuring from a cadre of lobbyists for business trade associations and chemical and related industries.
** Video interviews below**Murphy’s decision had turned the plastics debate upside down. Bills to limit the disposal of plastic bags by charging consumers to use them were dead and the momentum immediately swung to bills that would outlaw them.
Smith, the author of the primary Senate ‘ban’ bill, S-2776, pounced on the opportunity, announcing that his committee would hold a hearing on his legislation in September and vote on the measure in October. Smith is chairman of the Senate Environment and Energy Committee.
An identical bill, A-4330, is sponsored by Nancy Pinkin who chairs the Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee.
The ‘fee bill’ that’s been sitting on Murphy’s desk for weeks, was heavily lobbied but made it through both houses. A ban bill might be a tougher sell since political heavyweights like the NJ Chemistry Council, the Business and Industry Association, NJ Chamber of Commerce, and some retailers, are likely to join in opposing it.
It’s too early to predict the outcome, but plastics surely will be a hot topic when the legislature returns from its summer recess.
After yesterday’s joint hearing in Toms River by the environmental committees of both houses, we spoke with Amy Goldsmith, state director of Clean Water Action, an environmental group that favors an outright ban on plastic bags. (The state’s enviro-organizations have been fractured on the choice between fee and ban bills).
We also interviewed Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle who sponsored the about-to-be vetoed fee bill.
What do YOU think? Click on over to our Facebook page where we welcome your comments not only on plastic bag fees vs. bans but on the wider issue of plastic packaging.
Michael Sol Warren reports for NJ.com:After a rapid push through Trenton at the end of the last legislative session, a bill to place fees on single-use shopping bags is sitting on Gov. Phil Murphy’s desk.But some Garden State towns aren’t waiting for the governor to take action.Communities across the state, though mostly along the Shore, have either banned plastic bags or put fees on plastic bags and other single-use items. Even if Gov. Murphy signs the bill to create a statewide fee, communities with stricter rules will be grandfathered in.Here are 13 New Jersey towns, and one county, where plastic bags,and in some cases, straws, forks and styrofoam containers are shunned.Types of regulationsThe local ordinances apply to businesses and so far range from outright bans on single-use plastic bags to fees. Some towns have gone beyond bags as well: Plastic straws, plastic utensils and Styrofoam food containers have been targets by new regulations.Monmouth BeachIn Monmouth County, the tiny borough of Monmouth Beach has been lauded by environmental groups for passing perhaps the strictest plastic regulations in New Jersey. The community enacted a total ban on plastic bags, plastic straws and polystyrene (like Styrofoam) food containers; the regulations went into effect on June 1. The borough’s ordinance includes fines of up to $2,400.Jersey CityJersey City has banned single-use plastic bags, after passing an ordinance in June. The ban, which passed unanimously, goes into effect next summer. Retailers that violate the new rule can be fined up to $100 for each infraction.HobokenHoboken moved almost in lockstep with Jersey City to ban single-use plastic bags, also unanimously passing a ban in June. Hoboken’s ban goes into effect this coming winter; once it is in place, violators will face fines up to $500.Long BeachLong Beach’s ban on plastic bags became effective in May.The Long Beach ordinance makes an exemption for bait shops, according to a Patch report.BelmarBelmar’s ban on plastic bags, which was passed in May, goes into effect next spring. Businesses that get caught handing out single-use plastic bags can be fined up to $2,500 for each violation, with a limit on $10,000 in fines. According to a TAPinto report, the ordinance had the support of Belmar’s business community.Point Pleasant BeachPlastic bags have been banned in Point Pleasant Beach since the borough’s ordinance went into effect on on May 15, the day it was passed.Harvey CedarsThe smallest community on this list, with only 22 businesses according to the Press of Atlantic City, Harvey Cedars’s ban on plastic bags took effect on June 1.Read the full storyLike this? Click to receive free updates
This opinion piece by Kelly Mooij of the NJ Audubon Society appeared in today’s Asbury Park Press:
Consider this: Plastic carryout bags are used for an average of just 12 minutes but live on in our environment for hundreds of years. Created from oil, plastic bags are non-biodegradable, harm wildlife, debilitate recycling facilities and pose threats to public health.
At least 600 species of wildlife have been harmed by plastic pollution, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Seabird species such as ospreys and cormorants are particularly vulnerable to the effects of ingesting plastic particles, leading to intestinal blockage and reproductive failure. To paint an even bigger picture, projections warn that by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in our oceans.
In a state where residents use approximately 4.4 billion bags each year, it’s clear that we don’t have any time to waste to bag up this mess. The good news is that the wheels are in motion.
A bill that would impose a 5-cent fee on carryout bags currently awaits Gov. Phil Murphy’s pen, but it needs some work. NJ Audubon is urging the governor to conditionally veto A3267/S2600 to close significant loopholes that would exclude certain populations and stores from complying, allow stores to provide thicker plastic bags to customers free of charge, and preempt municipalities from passing their own bag laws.
This is not a bad bill, and a bag fee will certainly not be bad for our environment as some reports have claimed. Rather, it’s an excellent first step to curb the use of plastic bags through behavior change that can be made significantly stronger with a few amendments.
Fees across the U.S. have dramatically reduced and prevented plastics from entering our environment. Washington, D.C.’s 2010 implementation of a 5-cent bag fee resulted in a 60 percent reduction in plastic waste. Six months after Boulder, Colorado implemented a 10-cent bag fee, use of single-use bags declined 68 percent.
Completely eliminating plastic bags is a goal shared by many. However, reducing plastic bag use by more than half within months of enactment cannot be called anything but progress. The current bill grandfathers in all cities and counties that pass ban ordinances before the governor signs the bill. Jersey City, the second largest city in the state, is the latest to act to ban bags. If the governor strengthens the bill on his desk, hundreds of thousands of New Jerseyans will be covered under a bag ban and the rest of the state will comply with a fee, reducing bag pollution significantly in the near term.
This is a first step, not the end of the discussion. A hybrid structure, popularly demonstrated in California, is ideal and consists of a ban on plastic bags and a fee on all other bags. We look forward to working toward a hybrid model in New Jersey as well as addressing other sources of plastic pollution such as straws and polystyrene, but immediate action is needed now.
A strengthened version of the bill on Murphy’s desk will move our state forward. This bill represents real action to deal with a problem we’ve been talking about for years. We can’t afford to miss this opportunity to break the plastic habit. Our waterways and wildlife will thank us.
If Murphy signs on, law could reduce clutter in landfills and landscapes, but it won’t deliver money to lead-abatement programs — as originally intended
Credit: Creative Commons
Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:
By the slimmest of margins, lawmakers yesterday voted to impose a nickel fee on plastic and paper bags, a strategy intended to reduce the use of single-use carryout bags.
The bill (A-3267) aims to tackle the mounting problem of coping with the millions of bags that end up in garbage dumps and waterways and littering roads and landscape across the state.
The legislation, approved without debate in both houses, now heads to the governor, where the debate over the measure is sure to intensify. Backers say the fee will encourage consumers and stores to switch to reusable bags.
“More stores have made the change and now provide more environmentally friendly bags for customers,’’ said Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle, the bill’s sponsor. “This bill encourages more stores to get on board and move away from using the bags that are harmful to the environment.’’
Some environmental groups oppose the bill, preferring to ban plastic bags outright. They also are against a provision that would pre-empt individual towns from adopting bans on single-use plastic bags as some communities are doing.
But the New Jersey Food Council backed the bill, arguing a patchwork of assorted bans and fees on bags would create confusion and increase costs to consumers and retail stores.
Under the bill, the money raised by the fee is targeted to go to lead abatement programs, a recurring problem in New Jersey, where 3,500 children were found to have elevated lead levels in their blood.
Whether that money — projected at about $23 million just from plastic bags — ever is spent on lead abatement programs is another question. The money was meant to remove and replace lead-based fixtures, plumbing, and pipes in schools and communities, as well as stripping lead paint from schools, apartments, and houses.
In the fiscal 2019 state budget approved by the Democratic-controlled Legislature yesterday, there is language in the spending plan that would instead divert the money to the general fund. The budget supersedes other bills enacted by lawmakers.
Kenneth Lovett reports today in the NY Daily News:
ALBANY — New York City shoppers can put away their coin purses if they want to continue to use plastic bags.
Gov. Cuomo Tuesday signed a bill to impose a moratorium blocking the city from imposing a controversial 5-cent fee on plastic disposable bags.
Cuomo, who released a lengthy statement on the issue, said the city law that was due to go into effect on Wednesday was “deeply flawed” even if the intent to clean up the environment was a good one.
The governor said he’s creating a task force to come up with a uniformed statewide plan to deal with “the plastic bag problem.”
“There are a lot of complicated issues. We’re going through it and we’ll have a decision soon,” he said.
The Assembly and Senate this week overwhelmingly passed legislation that would impose a one-year moratorium on the city bag fee law that is due to go into effect Feb. 15.
Supporters of the moratorium criticized the bag fee as nothing more than a tax that would hurt lower income people.
Opponents of the delay said the fee would benefit the environment by reducing the number of plastic bags sent to landfills. They also ripped the Legislature for overruling a separately elected body — the City Council.
The NY/NJ Baykeeper responded to the news with this statement:
“We
are deeply disappointed with Governor Cuomo’s decision to nullify New York City’s bag. The bag law was
scheduled to go into effect today and would have encouraged consumers to bring
their own reusable bag to avoid a five cent fee and prevent plastic waste from
littering neighborhoods and waterways. Instead, the Council is forced to
postpone moving forward with a new bill for one year. While today’s
moratorium is a setback for local victories and our environment, New York City’s Bag It Coalition is not going away. NY/NJ Baykeeper will continue
working with coalition partners and local and state officials to address
plastic waste from entering our waterways. We hope in the near future, New York
City will join other cities who have reduced plastic waste by implementing
no-brainer carryout bag fees,” said Sandra Meola, Communications and Outreach
Associate, NY/NJ Baykeeper.
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**Updated at 3 p.m. to include additional news stories**
But in a rare public dispute, Senate Democrats disagree over aspects of the bill
Sen. Paul Sarlo proposed to amend the food waste bill, arguing the legislation is not “practical.’’
Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight
By a narrow vote, the Senate yesterday gave final legislative approval to a bill that would require large generators of food waste, such as hospitals, prisons, restaurants and supermarkets, to recycle their trash instead of sending it to landfills, or, in most cases, incinerators.
The bill (A-2371) was approved the same day as the Senate also passing, by 22-14, a much-debated measure (S-864) to prohibit single-use plastic bags and paper carry-out bags — like the food waste bill, long a top priority of environmental organizations in New Jersey. The plastics bill still needs to be approved by the Assembly, where its prospects are a bit murky.
Each of the issues has defied reaching a consensus among lawmakers. Both measures died in the lame-duck legislative session earlier this year despite gaining some traction in either the Assembly or Senate, only to falter because neither house could agree with the other’s version.
Nevertheless, the movement on both bills marked a victory for proponents given the opposition the proposals faced in previous sessions, not only from industry lobbyists but from lawmakers themselves.
That surfaced yesterday in the Senate in a rare public dispute among fellow Democrats over the food waste bill with Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen) proposing to amend the measure, arguing the legislation is not “practical.’’
Sarlo: It would increase costs
Sarlo contended the bill will increase costs to institutions and public entities by requiring them to send their trash, potentially over large distances, to be recycled in so-called food digesters, instead of landfills. Many landfills have built methane collection systems to capture gas from food waste in garbage dumps and convert it into electricity.
“This bill will destroy those systems,’’ Sarlo said in offering amendments to the bill to conform to what was agreed to in the prior legislative session. That bill, however, was conditionally vetoed by Gov. Phil Murphy, who faulted the idea of sending waste to garbage incinerators.
Under the current bill, facilities would be prohibited from sending food waste to a licensed incinerator or landfill only if they could demonstrate economic hardship.
Sen. Bob Smith (D-Middlesex), the sponsor of the bill, said that only 15% of food waste would end up in landfills, the third-largest source of methane emissions in the world. “We have to do everything we can to turn around climate change,’’ said Smith, adding methane is more than 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide, the most prevalent greenhouse gas emission causing climate change.
Concerns about location
Other Democratic senators, however, expressed concerns that these food digesters would be built in urban areas already overburdened with pollution facilities, otherwise known as environmental justice communities.
Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-Gloucester) sought to blunt those concerns by vowing to back a bill (S-232) now pending in the Senate that gives environmental justice communities more ability to fight unwanted projects that increase pollution in those communities. Ultimately, the bill only won approval by a 22-17 vote.
Food waste recycling bill heads to Murphy’s desk, again
Lawmakers on Thursday sent a bill to Gov. Phil Murphy’s desk that would ramp up recycling requirements for unused and wasted food.
The proposal, Assembly Bill 2371, took an unusual route through the state Legislature when it bypassed any committee hearings on the Senate side, drawing the ire of lawmakers at an afternoon voting session on March 5, who unsuccessfully attempted to stall the controversial measure.
Many critics pushed Thursday for an exemption to be reinserted into the bill that would allow the disposal of food in landfills or trash incinerators to count as recycling, such as Sen. Paul Sarlo, D-36th District, whose district in Bergen County includes landfills.
Murphy vetoed the measure over the summer because he worried those exemptions “severely weakened” it.
Sen. Paul Sarlo at the New Jersey Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee meeting on May 14, 2019. – AARON HOUSTON
“We find ourselves here today, not on the original bill, not the agreed-upon bill, not the handshake bill, not the bill that was comprised,” but a bill that “bypassed the environment committee, bypassed the budget committee, right to the floor,” Sarlo said.
The proposal would require large generators of food waste, such as hospitals, prisons, restaurants, and supermarkets, to recycle food garbage rather than send it to incinerators or landfills.
Many lawmakers, especially those representing urban districts where the foul odors and noxious fumes of incinerators and landfills find their way into local resident’s lungs, reluctantly approved the measure.
“My apprehension toward this bill is not the good environmental impact it will have … my apprehension … is that in areas like Newark, that have key geographic locations with the port and every interstate in the state of New Jersey, makes it such a viable and attractive place to become a hub for one of these facilities,” Sen. Teresa Ruiz, D-29th District said Thursday.
“We already have an incinerator and we already have the port. We already have enough truck traffic that is creating asthma numbers in pluralities like we’ve never seen before,” the Newark senator added. “Communities that are already negatively impacted within environmental issues are removed from this capacity so that when these sites are getting built, we’re not double-dipping in areas that just get clobbered on time and time again.”
Senate President Pro Tempore Maria Teresa Ruiz at the Senate Reorganization meeting in Trenton on Jan. 14, 2020.
At its core, the bill requires generators of more than 52 tons of food per year to separate food waste and send it to the closest authorized recycling facility within 25 miles.
Sen. Bob Smith, D-17th District, the bill’s main sponsor, argued that the legislation would create an entirely new industry, revolved around environmentally conscious food recycling, rather than letting it sit in a landfill where it would produce methane gas. In the years to follow, the booming industry would drive down costs and vastly outdo any expenses that businesses might incur in the near future, Smith argued.
The state Senate on Thursday passed and sent to Gov. Phil Murphy legislation that would require facilities such as supermarkets, restaurants and hospitals to separate and recycle their food waste. The bill also changes the definition of Class I renewable energy to include renewable natural gas, or biogas. The Senate passed the measure, 22-17, after considerable discussion. The Assembly passed it last month. “If we want to get some of our food waste out of landfills, this is the way to do it,” said Sen. Bob Smith, who sponsored the bill.
New Jersey Senate Passes Long-awaited Food Waste Bill
The bill, which ultimately passed as A2371, requires large food waste generators—hospitals, prisons, restaurants, grocery stores, etc.—to separate and recycle food waste. It also amends the definition of “Class I renewable energy.”
Specifically, under the bill, every large food waste generator that is located within 25 miles of an authorized food waste recycling facility and that generates an average projected volume of 52 or more tons per year of food waste within that radius would be required to source separate its food waste from other solid waste. They would then need to send that source-separated food waste to an authorized food waste recycling facility that has available capacity and will accept it. This only applies to an individual establishment or location that generates an average projected volume of 52 or more tons per year of food waste, so individual schools would not apply.
Finally, recycling facilities would be required to employ minority and women applicants that reside near the facility.
The legislation was sponsored by Senate Environment and Energy Chair Senator Bob Smith and Sen. Christopher Bateman.
“Food waste in this country and in New Jersey is a major problem and a serious waste of resources. The purpose of this legislation is to encourage the construction of more food waste-to-energy facilities, which can use food waste to generate electricity,” said Smith (D-Middlesex/Somerset) in a statement. “This process will ensure a constant source of separated food waste at our sanitation facilities across the state.”
The bill was released from the Senate by a vote of 22 to 17 and is on its way to Gov. Phil Murphy’s desk.
The New Jersey Composting Council touted the bill’s passage as a “legislative win,” explaining that the bill will do the following:
Create a Food Waste Recycling Market Development Council to provide recommendations on how to increase demand for products and energy generated by food waste recycling facilities.
Require state departments or agencies that engage in landscaping or construction to use compost, mulch or other soil amendments generated from recycling of organic materials where competitively priced and feasible.
Provide a financial incentive for energy generated at a food waste recycling facility by giving the facility a “class I renewable energy certificate,” which in turn can be sold on an open market or to energy suppliers and can be used by energy suppliers to meet renewable energy portfolio requirements.
Workers at Gaeta Recycling, a transfer station in Paterson, pull out inappropriate items from a conveyor carrying clean, shredded paper, still a sought-after material for recycling. (Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media)
Steve Strunsky and Patti Sapone report for NJ.com:
You remember that greasy pizza box you almost threw out, but recycled instead? The cheese was stuck to the lid again, too, but the delivery kid kept the change and drove away so fast you didn’t have time to complain? Remember?
Well, you might have thought you were doing the right thing by flattening the box, folding it once and laying it on top of Sunday’s paper in the recycling bin — but you’d be wrong. You should have just chucked it. The recycling folks don’t want your greasy pizza boxes any more, or a lot of the stuff you thought you were helping save the earth by recycling.
One reason is that China, traditionally the world’s leader in processing paper, plastic and other materials for re-use, has gotten tougher on what it will accept, raising its purity standards for recyclables to cut down on the pollutants that are the byproducts of recycling soiled materials.
”To protect China’s environmental interests and people’s health, we urgently adjust the imported solid wastes list, and forbid the import of solid wastes that are highly polluted,” stated a July 18, 2017 World Trade Organization memo circulated to member-nations on behalf of the People’s Republic.
‘China’s so strict on cardboard right now
Michael Muyala, the plant manager at Gaeta Recycling in Paterson, said China has gotten so strict it rejects loads of cardboard for being too damp.(Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media
)
The restrictions are among variables in the global recycling trade that have trickled down to individual consumers, who now must adjust to changes imposed by their own local governments in response to demands by commercial recycling centers and reuse plants now faced with the possible rejection of compressed bails of cardboard, bleach bottles, and other items that consumers drop in their blue bins and place on the curb.
Pizza boxes are still fine if they’re clean, said Michael Muyala, plant manager at Gaeta Recycling in Paterson, but not if they’re grease-stained.
“China’s so strict on the cardboard right now,” said Muyala, whose customers include businesses and 29 municipalities in northern New Jersey. “They reject loads.”
(
Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media)
The changes mean industry officials must constantly update the local governments they do business with on just what types of materials are marketable. Public officials, in turn, have to pass along that information to their constituents, through notices mailed out with property tax bills or other public awareness measures.
“We put this on our township website, and we also have a TV station that we stream on,” said Mayor John Spodafora of Stafford Township, who led a local ban on plastic bags taking effect next month due their toll on the recycling process.
Spodafora, a retired cost analyst for the U.S. Army, said an analysis he conducted before imposing the ban found that plastic bags add as much as 30 percent to the cost of recycling because they constantly clog sorting machines and force operations to halt, a figure that Gaerta officials said sounded about right.
A truck dumps paper and cardboard in the main sorting area at Gaeta Recycling in Paterson. (Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media)
The don’ts
The following is a list of less obvious items that recycling professionals, public officials and environmentalists say should not go in the blue bins. When in doubt, check your municipal web site or call town hall.
(Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media)
Plastic bags
Though made of plastic that might otherwise be recyclable, plastic grocery bags, trash bags or other types of bags should not be recycled, either on their own or to contain other recyclables. The bags clog the rollers of sorting machines, forcing plant operators to constantly halt operations to unclog them.
Environmentalists who lobbied for months to get New York City Council to adopt a fee on single-use plastic and paper grocery bags may see their victory snatched away by state lawmakers in Albany.
Marcus Solis reports for ABC 7:
Nearly a month after the New York City Council voted to approve a tax on plastic and paper shopping bags, the New York State Senate passed a bill on Tuesday that prevents cities all across the state from doing just that.
The legislation, sponsored by Brooklyn Democratic Senator Simcha Felder, would block the 5-cent tax that was scheduled to go into effect on October 1 in New York City. Fines wouldn’t start until April 1, 2017.
Wednesday afternoon, Liz spent $120 on groceries that she’ll try and make last for two weeks.
But under a new city law, every bag in her cart, and most bundles are double bagged, would have cost her an extra five cents.
“My pocket it will affect because I’m constantly shopping,” Liz said.
The City Council passed the law last month. The goal is to cut down on single use plastic bags, which are rarely recycled and end up as trash in landfills.
The Bronx borough president acknowledges the environmental concerns, but calls the fee: a tax.
The law was supposed to go into effect in October. The state senate has passed its own bill that would prevent municipalities from imposing such fees because of the economic impact.
The city has agreed to work with the assembly to change the law, rather than have it blocked altogether.
“It’s good it’s being delayed. It’s terrible that they are going to charge us for bags, it should be free,” said Ben Reyes, a Bronx resident.
The Bronx borough president says he would like to see incentives or a public awareness campaign to cut down use.
“Where we educate folks, we’ll teach them to change that behavior, but we protect the environment and we do so in a way that people are not going to have an added strain in their pockets,” Diaz said.
For now the law is scheduled to go into effect in February. As for Liz, she seems resigned to the fact that some change is coming.
“It is what it is either way,” Liz said.
The bill has been sent to the Assembly and will be voted on next week before it is sent to Governor Andrew Cuomo to sign into law. Like this? Use form in upper right to receive free updates See popular posts from the last 30 days in right column — >>
The next time you hear an oil and gas industry attorney talk about what good community neighbors their fracking facilities will be, remember Katherine Payne.
She’s the mayor of the tiny Texas town of Nordheim which is within a mile of where a fracking company plans to build a waste pit almost as large as the town itself.
How did the ‘good neighbor’ fracking company approach the mayor to explain its plans and seek approval? They didn’t. Mayor Payne discovered it in a legal notice in the classified section of her local newspaper.
