New York started banning the distribution of single-use plastic bags statewide on 1 March, a move with the ambitious goal of reducing the billions of discarded bags that stream annually into landfills, rivers and oceans.
The law forbids most businesses from handing out the thin bags that are ubiquitous in supermarkets and boutiques, making New York the third state to bar the bags after California and Oregon.
New Yorkers currently use 23 billion plastic bags each year, state officials say, many of which end up as one of the most problematic forms of garbage.
Measures in other countries and localities have significantly reduced plastic bag use, and a study in Washington found a bag fee of five US cents (seven Singapore cents) there had cut down on plastic pollution in waterways. The laws also aim to address climate change by reducing the planet-warming emissions from making the petroleum-based bags.
New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation does not plan to fine stores that continue to distribute bags on Day 1. Instead, the state has created a public education effort, called #BYOBagNY, essentially asking shoppers to build a new habit – bringing their own reusable bags. Proponents say that it will soon become a reflex.
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Source: The Straits Times, 2 March 2020