New bag fee aims to curb waste

Many northwest Bronxites are welcoming a new city law imposing a 5-cent fee on plastic and paper bags starting in October.

Local shoppers echoed one of the main arguments from advocates of the fee, who say it will encourage people to employ reusable bags and doom fewer plastic and paper bags to landfills.

“I am happy with it because there are so many plastic bags. People use them like water,” Riverdale resident Olga Zuniga, 53, said after shopping at the Key Food on West 235th Street.

The city government says New Yorkers use about 9 billion disposable bags per year. A website in favor of the bag fee, www.bagitnyc.org, estimates that the city pays about $10 million a year to dispose of 100,000 tons of plastic carryout bags alone.

The recent legislation will impose $250 fines on stores that do not charge fees for disposable bags the first time they are caught, with fines going up to $500 per subsequent violation. The bill will have a six-month period of grace in which the city’s Department of Consumer Affairs will issue warnings instead of fines.

The fee is not a tax, and stores will keep the fees for themselves. Exemptions will apply for people paying with food stamps or buying restaurant takeout. There will be no fee for thin plastic bags for meat or medicine bags from pharmacies, either.

Riverdale resident Adele Lester welcomed the expected environmental effects of the fee, but said the legislation could pose a challenge for older people.

“In some ways, yes, it is good because there is so much garbage. However, it will have a big impact on the daily lives of elderly people,” said Ms. Lester, who did not give her age.

She went on to say that she is not all that impressed by reusable bags, having tried them for herself while shopping. 

The bag fee legislation passed May 5 by a 28-20 vote. Dorothy Shepherd approved of the measure.

“If I can bring my own reusable bag, then I’m happy and I think other people should be, too,” Ms. Shepherd, 69, said after shopping at the Foodtown on Broadway. “Plastic bags are left all over the place and are especially bad when it rains. Let them pay and maybe they won’t litter them on the street.”

Marion Grant, 49 who works in Riverdale, was not impressed with the introduction of the charge and questioned what people are supposed to do.

“It is not good enough. People shouldn’t be charged for bags. What are people supposed to do? They can’t fit everything in their hands,” she said.

Mary Flood, 23, said she was not in favor of the charge because the cost will add up every time she goes to a store and forgets to bring her own bag.

“I don’t think the fee is fair because every time I go to buy groceries, I’m not going to remember to bring a bag with me. Over time, all the 5 cents I have to spend on bags will add up,” the Kingsbridge resident said.

A different version of the bill, which would have imposed a 10-cent bag fee, was proposed in 2013. Northwest Bronx Councilman Andrew Cohen co-sponsored this year’s legislation. 

“The fee will remind people to bring reusable bags,” he said. 

“Similar fees have been introduced in numerous jurisdictions like Washington, D.C. and use of bags has dropped dramatically.”