NYC Isn't Ready For The Plastic Bag Ban, Lawmakers Say

NEW YORK CITY — New York City isn't ready for the plastic bag ban, according to store owners demanding its delay.

New Yorkers don't have the supplies and information they need to transition into a plastic bagless city Monday and critics fear low-income communities and their small businesses will pay the cost.

"You hurt the small bodegas that are the heartbeat of New York," said Frank Garcia of the National Association of the Latino State Chambers. "They’re not gonna survive."

Garcia, city council members Ydanis Rodriguez and Mark Gjonaj, and concerned store owners rallied on the steps of City Hall Thursday to demand the bag ban be delayed until stakeholders were better educated and plastic bag alternatives could be better sourced.

The statewide ban — which requires grocery stores, bodegas, liquor stores and other businesses to stop using plastic bags and charge customers 5 cents for paper bags — is an attempt to curb the production of more than 23 billion bags used and discarded in New York State every year.

Read more about New York City Bag Ban here.

A lone ban supporter arrived at City Hall bedecked in plastic bags to argue New York had ample time to prepare as Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the bill on Earth Day roughly one year ago and New York City first passed a plastic bag statute in 2016.

"It's not a new idea," said Eric Goldstein, a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, adding he understood store owners' concerns, but expected they would be addressed in months to come.

"There's every reason to believe the state will not be out on March 1 with enforcement agents," Goldstein said. "The whole focus of the state and the city's activities now are on educating the public."

But Gjonaj maintained owners of New York City's 13,000 bodegas should be educated on details before facing the possibility of a fine.

"They need and deserve answers before this ban is implemented and before the state tries to fine them violations that they don't even know exist," he said. "We need to stop the chaos and end this ban."

And Rodriguez worried that his lower income constituents will bare the brunt of enforcement because they lack the resources to comply with the ban.

"Look at the poor neighborhoods," said Rodriguez. "Look and see how many members who live in the upper class and middle class communities already have a reusable bag."

Nick D'Agostino, D'Agostino’s and Gristedes Supermarkets, complained that store owners weren't given enough time to stock acceptable replacements in the face of a predicted 3 billion paper bag shortage in New York State.

"They didn’t tell us what we had to buy," D'Agostino said. "They aren’t giving us any chance."

Orlando Findlayter of the New Hope Christian Fellowship, stressed that critics did not question the environmental benefits of the plastic bag ban, they simply felt unprepared.

"While we support the law, but it's too soon," said Findlayter. "What are we gonna do, carry the groceries with our hands?"