The city will impose a 5-cent fee on single-use paper bags at retail and grocery stores.
MANHATTAN is taking New York’s recent climate legislation banning plastic bags one step further by imposing a fee for paper bags.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation Monday that bans the sale of single use plastic bags in the state beginning March 2020. The legislation also allows counties in the state to charge a 5-cent fee for single-use paper bags.
Following Cuomo’s signature, the New York City Council announced the city would be imposing the fee on disposable paper bags.
From the fee, 3 cents will go to the Environmental Protection Fund and 2 cents will go to the locality to pay for the distribution of reusable bags.
New York joins California in instituting a state-wide ban of single-use plastic bags. California enforces a 10-cent fee for recycled paper bags and, although it is not a statewide ban, all of Hawaii’s most populous counties prohibit paper bags containing less than 40% recycled material, as well as plastic bags.