Tuesday, February 21, 2017

If you can't tax them, ban them

From the Daily News:

Mayor de Blasio said he's "very open" to banning plastic bags outright after the state legislature and Gov. Cuomo blocked a city law to impose a five cent fee on the bags.

Albany intervened to stop the city for at least a year from requiring stores to charge five cents for plastic and paper bags. City pols say they wanted to encourage shoppers to ditch the environmentally harmful bags for reusable ones.

"That was one way of doing it. A ban is another option, which I'd be very open to," de Blasio said Monday night on NY1. "The one thing I know is the worst possible outcome is what we have right now. Vast number of plastic bags are just harming the earth. It's not good for any of us."

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is actually a great idea. Our highways and parks are filled with bags and they kill tons of wildlife! Everyone that gives a shit about the environment already has canvas bags from every store they shop at.

Anonymous said...

"City pols say they wanted to encourage shoppers to ditch the environmentally harmful bags for reusable ones."

What bullshit!, they want to figure out how to make money off it...

Anonymous said...

Tenants in high rise buildings need plastic bags to push their garbage down the trash chute.

JQ LLC said...

What about food trucks and take out eateries? They are still using plastic bags, and the majority of litter on the street originates from these establishments. Whereas the majority of people use the bags for garbage and recyclables.

Anonymous said...

Can't believe I'm saying this but this might be the only thing I'm on board with this mayor.

JQ LLC said...

Another thing, how is De Faustio going to ban this. Wouldn't that be unconstitutional in a way. Since the Mayor and these oblivious shitty council members are accusing Mario's son of the same thing with his superseding of the bill.

Anonymous said...

Ban the plastic bags? All plastic bags?
What will dog owners use to obey the "pooper scooper" law?

Let's be real. Allow the plastic bag law to go through but for ALL users. Bodegas, the poor, liquor stores, etc. should charge the nickel and shop owners should be allowed to keep the nickel fee.

However, these stores should provide FREE canvas bags to all customers who purchase groceries/products in excess of $10. When the bags become threadbare and unusable they should be traded in for another.

Anonymous said...

Here is a novell idea, put 3 cents on each bag, you'll see them collected like never before. Worked with the cans, bottles.
Otherwise is just large donors passing along business expenses.

For the rocket scientist with the canvas bags, a large family how many canvas bags needs to carry to the store?

Anonymous said...

Excellent idea. It should have been implemented years ago.

Anonymous said...

So go back to the old paper bag.

Gary W said...

And people are worried about Trump being a dictator.

The Marxist city council and Mayor Dope, and all Nanny Staters are the biggest threat to all our freedoms.

So some poor slob gets off the bus after work and decides to do some grocery shopping. Oh but he didn't bring his canvas bag to work that day and now he's gonna get banged a nickel a piece so lefty turds and enviro-weenies can virtue signal and feel good about themselves.

"See kids, how mommy and daddy fought to get rid of those plastic bags so we could nickel and dime those horrible poor people!! Too bad jobs are leaving in droves, the schools suck, the playgrounds aren't safe, the infrastructure is falling apart, but gosh daren't we took care of those awful bags!"

Anonymous said...

Just get rid of these bags. For garbage well use the trusted paper bag or go back to the pails.

Anonymous said...

Why not add plastic bags to the city's recycling program? We already recycle other plastics.

Anonymous said...

Excellent idea. It should have been implemented years ago.

Dementia has no boundaries.

Anonymous said...

Bread and circuses!

Don't mind the crime, the tax burden, the awful schools or the dead children!

Your life will be better when you pay for a shopping bag!

Anonymous said...

@Anonymous Anonymous said..."So go back to the old paper bag."
Bingo ! Paper bags with handles like Whole Foods uses.

(sarc) said...

Yes!!!

Let us make this illegal.

It is working so well with heroin...

Anonymous said...

What about the overdevelopment that kills wildlife more than bags do?
Hey, dummy, put a plastic bag over your head and give your brain a good dose of CO 2.
Maybe you'll get off of your high horse.

Anonymous said...

Plastic bags will not go away. The ones we use to line our pails are not being removed.
Only the small shopping bags that inconsiderate slobs let loose into our environment.
Using paper bags to shop for groceries is not something new or hard to get use to. Hell that's how my mom shopped 50 years ago and she did not drive. Think about that , no car = no pollution = no cost = exercise =shop local not in some global corporate warehouse.

Anonymous said...

@ Anon.. "Maybe you'll get off of your high horse."
It's not that but changing your bad habits that you think will be hard to give up.
Your lack of logic and alluring use of physical violence shows ignorance. The simple truth is that we all need to protect our one and only planet.

Anonymous said...

@sarc

Very good! I can imagine the Plastic Bag Prevention Agency with billion dollar budget.

Anonymous said...

Is progressive liberalism (aka communism) contagious?
Reading some of the posts most certainly seems so.

Anonymous said...

The comments here I've seen against this so far amount to "There are other problems so we should ignore this one!"... Umm...

Anonymous said...

1) NY State has had a plastic bag recycling law since 2009.
2) The NYC council "carry out bag fee" includes paying for brown paper bags as well as plastic bags.

Anonymous said...

"For the rocket scientist with the canvas bags, a large family how many canvas bags needs to carry to the store? "

4-6. And yes I've carried them all at once up a flight of stairs. Not a big deal.

Continuing to kill the planet? That's a big deal. Death by a billion paper cuts. Enough is enough.

Anonymous said...

We can't ban terrorists or criminal illegal immigrants but we're going to ban plastic bags? Da Mayor doesn't carry anything. He doesn't think about the constituents who use plastic bags.

Start a recycling program.

Ms. Tsouris said...

Lots of false equivalencies are being stated here. I agree with an outright ban. Without that, a per bag fee is yet another tax. If legislators sincerely want to support the environment, a ban makes sense.