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Plastic Bag Ban Begins This Weekend—But NY Won't Issue Fines Until April
By
Sydney Pereira
Published Feb 28, 2020
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Mary Altaffer/AP/Shutterstock
By
Sydney Pereira
Published Feb 28, 2020
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The plastic bag ban is still going into effect Sunday after an eleventh hour legal challenge to try to thwart it, according to the Department of Environmental Conservation. But enforcement won't begin until at least April 1st, the department confirmed.
A plastic bag manufacturer, Poly-Pak, and an association of bodega owners in New York City filed a lawsuit on Friday in hopes of getting a judge to issue a temporary restraining order on the upcoming plastic bag ban, to no avail.
The DEC "is pleased that a temporary restraining order was not issued in this case so New York's ban on single-use plastic bags will go into effect as planned on March 1," the department said in a statement.
The department previously said enforcement would begin in the months ahead, but officially announced Friday it wouldn't start issuing fines until at least April 1st to allow for an education period.
"We have consistently said since the beginning of our outreach campaign that we will focus on education rather than enforcement and today does not change that," the department said.
Once enforcement begins, retailers who violate the law get a warning on their first violation. After a warning, fines start at $250.
According to Politico, which first reported on the court hearing, Poly-Pak and the bodegas association argue the ban is "arbitrary and capricious." The ban "would lead to consumers leaving the bodegas with their arms full of unwrapped goods," their lawyer, Jim Featherstonhaugh, said. The next court date is May 1st, according to Politico. (Featherstonhaugh was not immediately available for comment.)
A plaintiff in the lawsuit Frank Marte, of the Bodega & Small Business Association, told the Post he doesn't have enough large paper bags for the ban to begin.
"We are in favor of the reusable bags but there has been no education to customers or to the businesses," he told the Post.
Marte was among a group of bodega and supermarket owners who rallied for a two-month delay on the law last week. Bag ban opponents predicted "chaos" would arise—with one grocer suggesting more shoppers would purchase groceries online.
The ban, which passed nearly a year ago, will prohibit store owners from providing plastic carryout bags except for a slew of exemptions, like takeout food and prescriptions. Retailers will instead offer paper bags, which have a 5 cent fee in New York City and a handful of other counties. The city and state are also encouraging customers to bring reusable bags (life hack!).
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