DEC bungled plastic bag ban so badly state must pay plaintiffs' court costs, judge rules

By Rick Karlin | 1/20/21 | Times Union

ALBANY — New York’s rollout of its plastic bag ban last year was so muddled and confusing that a judge awarded court fees to the plaintiffs who had sued over the prohibition.

Acting state Supreme Court Justice Gerard Connolly ordered the state to pay despite ruling the ban was legal.

Saying that the Department of Environmental Conservation’s early directions on the ban were “incorrect” and “frivolous,” Connolly ordered the agency to pay part of the legal fees and court costs in a suit brought by a bagmaker PolyPak Industries as well as a consortium of corner shops, small business owners and a grocery store that opposed the ban.

The lawsuit filed last year Albany County asked to overturn the ban, which, court papers in the case showed, sowed confusion over which types of  reusable plastic bags were barred.

Initially, the ban regulations developed by DEC lawyers included exemptions for heavier plastic bags or bags that could be used 125 times. DEC at first also said that heavier bags of polystyrene or polypropylene were going to be exempt, but not the more common thin “film plastic” bags that PolyPak made and most grocery stores used. Read More >>