New York Banned Plastic Bags Two Years Ago. Why Are They Still Everywhere?
Colin Kinniburgh | October 12, 2022 | New York Focus
Once ubiquitous, they’re now nowhere to be seen. Or at least, that’s what was supposed to happen when New York banned plastic bags for most uses in 2020. Yet two years later, many New York City supermarkets — not to mention smaller markets and bodegas — continue to distribute plastic bags as they always have.
Environmental advocates and some legislators blame the state, saying the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), which is tasked with implementing the ban, isn’t doing enough to crack down or to educate businesses and consumers about alternatives. As a result, bags continue to pollute streets and waterways, block storm drains, and hamper the city’s recycling efforts.
“Right now, everything is, quite frankly, just half-assed,” City Council sanitation committee chair Sandy Nurse told New York Focus.
The ban’s incomplete rollout is also casting doubt on the state’s ability to effectively enforce pollution rules more broadly.
“Compared to regulating a chemical facility or a power plant, this is very easy to do,” said Judith Enck, president of the advocacy group Beyond Plastics and former regional administrator at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “It calls into question why we have a DEC if they can’t even enforce a plastic bag ban.”
Beyond Plastics shared with New York Focus a list of more than 100 stores in the New York City area that continue to flout the ban, according to volunteers who go from store to store monitoring its effectiveness. The stores range in size from ethnic corner markets to national chains; the group has stopped keeping count of delis and bodegas, preferring to focus on bigger players. Beyond Plastics’ volunteers update the list regularly and share it with the DEC, which they say has failed to follow up.
“Our volunteers are doing DEC’s legwork for them,” Enck said.
The DEC insists that it is making a concerted effort to enforce the ban. A spokesperson said that, as of late September, the agency has conducted 425 store visits and issued 151 warning notices to businesses across the state for violating plastic bag laws. That amounts to about four visits a week since the ban took effect in October 2020.
The DEC has taken further enforcement actions 26 times, the spokesperson told New York Focus, issuing nine violation notices to small businesses and 17 to chains. Last May, THE CITY reported the agency had issued no fines. Since then, it has issued $75,000 worth, including $15,000 just this September — a sign that enforcement may be ramping up.
“New York continues to be a national leader on environmental issues, and… DEC is proud to be at the forefront of these efforts,” the agency said in a statement. “We continue to encourage New Yorkers to BYOBagNY and bring their own reusable bags wherever and whenever they shop.”
Enforcement has been effective in at least one case: Gristedes, which stopped distributing plastic bags after DEC referred complaints to the Attorney General, Enck said.
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