Cuomo To Call For Plastic Bag Ban In 2019 Budget

Do you have enough reusable shopping bags? You might need to get a few more if Gov. Andrew Cuomo gets his way. On Sunday, the governor announced a plastic bag ban that will be included in the 2019 Executive Budget.

Cuomo also announced a bill that would expand the state's Bottle Bill to make most non-alcoholic drink containers eligible for 5-cent redemption.

He said the state will continue to move forward to protect natural resources for future generations, while the federal government is moving backward on the environment.

"These bold actions to ban plastic bags and promote recycling will reduce litter in our communities, protect our water and create a cleaner and greener New York for all," Cuomo said in a prepared statement.

Cuomo created the New York State Plastic Bag Task Force in March 2017 to develop a comprehensive statewide solution to address pollution caused by plastic bags.

For the task force's recommendations, he introduced a bill in 2018 to prohibit businesses from providing plastic carryout bags to customers.

Cuomo said a statewide plastic bag prohibition will help reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with plastic bag production and disposal, from petroleum used to produce the bags to emissions from the transportation of bags to landfills.

There are already counties, towns and villages in the state that currently have enforced bans.

Suffolk County on Long Island passed a law that went into effect Jan. 1, 2018, that requires retailers to charge a minimum fee of 5 cents on paper or plastic carryout bags.

Cuomo's plan would not restrict the use of paper bags, something with which Mona Golub, vice president of PR and consumer services at PriceChopper, disagrees.

She said disposable paper bags are less cost-effective and reuse-friendly, the Times Union reported.

Golub said paper bags are as difficult to recycle and biodegrade as plastic bags.

She said reusable bag usage in Suffolk County drastically increased when the stores imposed a 5-cent fee on both paper and plastic.

The Town of New Castle's reusable bag law went into effect Jan. 1, 2017, and the Village of Larchmont has had a ban on non-biodegradable plastic bags since 2013.

Also in Westchester County, a fee for plastic or paper bags — for retailers with establishments that have 5,000 square feet or more — is set to go into effect in April in the Town of Bedford.

Ulster County will see a law go into effect in mid-2019 that will bar most retailers from giving out single-use plastic bags and will require stores to charge 5 cents for each recyclable paper bag provided to customers, the Daily Freeman said.

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