6 cents for a plastic bag was what Mayor Bloomberg had in mind for shoppers, and it seems that 10 cents is what Mayor Bill deBlasio may have in store for shoppers per plastic bag according to a Daily News story. Deputy Mayor Anthony Shorris has been consulting with the city’s new sanitation commissioner about a ten cent plastic bag fee that has been co-sponsored in the City Council by Councilman Brad Lander. Twenty of the 51 council members are said to be on board with the idea of the 10 cent per plastic bag fee that would go to the store owner rather than the 6 cent a bag fee going to the city as was proposed by Mayor Bloomberg.
Brad Gerstman of the New York Association of Grocery Stores says that the fee would drive away customers and do more harm than good. in cleaning the environment. An estimated 5.2 billion disposable plastic bags are used in the city each year, and it costs $10 million to ship them to landfills after they are tossed away, according to the bills’ supporters.
With club stores selling in case lots and others like Aldi already selling their bags the use of plastic bags should have dropped in recent years. Ask your council member which side of this argument they are on, and ask them if they are going to pay 10 cents per plastic bag or go shop over the city line where plastic bags are free. The other question that comes into mind is - what about the plastic bags that are sold for use as garbage bags by companies? Are we going to see a 10 cent per bag fee for Hefty or Glad bags which would add $2.00 to a package of 20 bags.
