The State of Plastic Bag Bans

Start spreading the news:  New York legislators and Governor Andrew Cuomo approved a statewide ban on single-use plastic bags. The ban – which would go into place March 1, 2020 – prohibits plastic bags at supermarkets and retail businesses and would allow individual counties and cities to opt in to a program that would implement a 5-cent fee on paper bags. Still, despite the continued buzz over plastic bag bans, actions by legislators have gone in two different directions:  On one hand, at least 91 bills (most to ban plastic bags) have been introduced so far in 2019, and both large U.S. cities and the European Union have moved to put bans in place. Meanwhile, New York is just one of three states with statewide bans (California and Hawaii), while another 11 states have put “preemption” laws in place that prevent their local municipalities from instituting bans. The current state of plastic bag bans can be seen in the map above.

Note:  Stamford, Norwalk, Greenwich, New Canaan and Westport has already banned plastic bags, with surrounding communities coming on board.  A statewide Connecticut ban is pending now in the Senate.

Reprinted from Advantages Magazine, May 2019

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