New Yorkers: What do you think of the plastic bag tax?

gp2.0

Mon, May 09 2016, 1:41 pm

goodmorning wrote:

Of course, that offers no net benefits for the environment as compared to a shopping bag.

That is, you can present workarounds to the bill: use produce bags! Buy trash bags for your recycling and diapers! etc. But if they don't address or improve the underlying environmental concerns, in what way is the bill a great idea?

Because up to this point I was using double the plastic - a produce bag for the poultry plus another plastic shopping bag. Because there are many, many, many people who do not reuse their grocery bags. All these people - who are currently buying little trash bags AND throwing grocery bags in the garbage - this bill is for them. Those of us who have been reusing the bags the whole time were already being conscious of the environment. This is for everyone else.

Though honestly, one thing that I would argue against this bill that I haven't seen others mention is - why only grocery stores? Why not start the initiative with less problematic stores - toys, clothes, household items? These stores contribute to the problem too, there are no sanitary concerns, these items are often bulkier and tear plastic bags anyway and often the bags are oddly shaped and not easily reusable.

chocolatecake

Mon, May 09 2016, 1:54 pm

5 cents a bag is really not a big deal. Its 20 bags for a dollar. I usually order my groceries online and have them delivered. I am sure now the stores will not bag the items first just dump them in the boxes. When I am doing a small grocery run on foot I will just pay the five cent fee. It will make my bill 20 cents higher no biggie. not worth the headache of having to always have a reusuable bag on me.

cnc

Mon, May 09 2016, 1:54 pm

Rosemarie wrote:

What it will mean for me is more makingbuse of the groceries free delivery service:they use boxes, so no bag charge, and they bring it up the steps and into my house, so much easier for me with kids anyway! For the environment: we just used more boxes-not so great for the environment but better than bags, but also used more carbon emissions for the van driving to my house to deliver that box. So net environmental benefit: probably zero or negative.

Additionally. Delivery service used people that are most likely illegal immigrants, so that provides more money to them, which I am not particularly in favor of. (And no, I do not ask the bag boy or delivery boy at the supermarket if they are legal or not, would not be very smart or PC thing to do, it is just my assumption based on knowledge of the demographics.)

Exactly my thoughts.

seeker

Tue, May 10 2016, 2:48 am

Speaking of putting people's money where people's mouths are, I hope you all realize that while we love to shoot the breeze here, our government representatives were using however much taxpayer money they wanted to promoting or objecting to this bill, while others like them used their tax-funded worktime listening to these arguments. And are we now going to also sponsor the enforcement of these rules? Who is going to do that, how, and most importantly WHY do they not have anything better to do? I don't usually take the position that we should ignore one problem because another problem exists, but in this case the bag thing seems so inane in proportion to all the other important and under-funded causes in this city.

m in Israel

Tue, May 10 2016, 3:34 am

leopardspots wrote:

I think it's fine. I lived somewhere previously where this was done and just kept a reusable bag folded up in my pocketbook. When I moved to NY I noticed it wasn't a thing yet.

I've seen people post this, and I truly don't get it -- maybe because I never lived someplace where this is done. But how does one reusable bag folded up in your pocketbook help anything? Even if it is a large canvas bag that can hold a few bags worth of stuff -- when I go to the supermarket I usually have a whole wagon worth of stuff -- not a bag or two. (And truthfully, I thought that is the crux of the environmental problem -- that there are so many of these bags). Maybe this is practical in European cities with 1.6 kids per family Smile

But once you have a kid or two, how does one bag carry all your groceries? I can easily bring home 20 bags worth of groceries in one trip. (And doing multiple runs for less groceries each time certainly is not better for the environment if I am driving to the store. . )

The reusable bag in my pocketbook would work for other types of stores probably -- but not for routine grocery shopping.

yogabird

Tue, May 10 2016, 10:01 am

m in Israel wrote:

I think people here would just have that kind of big shopping delivered.

m in Israel

Tue, May 10 2016, 10:04 am

yogabird wrote:

I think people here would just have that kind of big shopping delivered.

That makes sense. I'm not sure delivery service is as widely available in NY though (other than in Chassidish areas such as Wiliamsburg and Boro Park).

And of course it brings us back to the question of how much this actually helps the environment overall -- if more people are having their groceries delivered (presumably in a vehicle). . .

yogabird

Tue, May 10 2016, 10:08 am

Flatbush definitely delivers. But I'm also not sure how available/used delivery service is in the rest of the state. But again, outside of big cities a lot of people probably use cars to do their large runs, especially if their grocery is not right around the corner.

This is just my own observation, but a lot of Manhattan is already too hip for plastic bags. People shlepping a bunch of bags in both hands is just not a common sight.

leopardspots

Tue, May 10 2016, 10:59 am

m in Israel wrote:

Well, it worked for me back then because I was single.
With a family, you can just keep the reusable bags in the trunk of your car.

zigi

Tue, May 10 2016, 12:47 pm

the local grocery stores delivers. = pushing a shopping cart filled with bags to your house. this is the local non jewish grocery store. I can get things delivered to me. boxes with a 60$ minimum. I see many people shlep things home from target etc. also other grocery stores. I personally carry home 6 shopping bags at a time when I don't want to spend the amount for delivery. de blasio wants to hear people opinions and he still wants to sign the bill. not everyone can afford a car. walking or public transport is what they use

Amarante

Tue, May 10 2016, 1:20 pm

I am not understanding why plastic bags form a store make it easier to shlep large quantities of groceries.

It's very easy to carry one or even two bags in your purse for spontaneous purchases. And for planned shopping trips when one is buying a lot, you just Bing your recyclable bags. These are actually easier to carry than plastic bags and they hold items better. Mine even go over my shoulder in a pinch.

And these laws do change behavior as almost no one buys disposable bags anymore but bring their own whereas before the law was passed the only people who did it were committed ecology people.

There are lots of laws that are intended to protect the environment and prevent people from leaving it a worse place than they found it. Most places have mandatory sorting of items for trash with three containers required for pickup.

And the benefit to the environment is outweighed by the slight adjustment. As for delivery vans versus plastic bags, I would imagine that the driver makes multiple deliveries on one trip. I would also assume that distance is not that great as it's hard to believe that many people are regularly shlepping home 20 bags from a store that is a far distance from home.

miami85

Tue, May 10 2016, 5:50 pm

Why can't they make it like the plastic bottles and you can get your 5cents back when you return them for recycling?

I personally use plastic bags for my lunch or other reusuable purposes. I don't always know how many bags I will need when I go shopping--I'm not going to bring 10 reusable bags. . I think this "tax" is going to be a nuissance.

mha3484

Tue, May 10 2016, 5:54 pm

I don't know about NY but when Chicago implemented this last summer it was only for chain stores. Mom and Pop's like my little kosher grocery store down the street were not forced to participate. This was not in the news articles.

Also, some of the chain stores like Target or the big grocery came up with their own solutions and the customers do not pay extra. They took this on themselves. They give out extra thick bags that I still use for lunches, dirty diapers, etc and they dont make holes like the old ones.