Plastic Bags Still Ubiquitous In NYC Shops, Months After Enforcement Of Ban Began.
This article was produced as part of the CLARIFY internship program, with reporting by Grace Adesanya, Khushba Ahmed, Filomena Baker, Amanda Chen, Ankita Das, Rosalie Flores, Michelle Grullon, Natalia Lashley, Cynthia Leung, Lina Lin, Josette Lombardi, Jeshua Guerrero Lopez, Luke Macwan, Hazel Melendez, Samama Moontaha, Marie Pontius, John Powers, Sierra Williams and Erica Yang. | February 10, 2022 | City Limits
The effectiveness of New York’s plastic bag ban could serve as a portend for other, similar bans on single-use plastics either already approved or under discussion at both the city and state legislative levels. To get a better sense of how its implementation is going, City Limits’ CLARIFY interns spoke to more than 50 bodega owners and store workers in the outer boroughs to see if they’re still using plastic, and if so, to tell us why.
It’s been nearly two years since New York State adopted a ban on plastic bags, and 15 months since the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) began imposing fines for violations—an effort initially delayed by a lawsuit and later, the COVID-19 pandemic.
Environmentalists, however, say the agency still isn’t doing enough to ensure that retailers comply. Plastic bags are still a common sight at stores across the five boroughs, and the state has issued fewer than two dozen violation notices since the ban went into effect in October 2020. Many business owners, meanwhile, claim they’re struggling to implement the change, saying they were largely left to their own devices in making the switch.
The law’s effectiveness could serve as a portend for other, similar bans on single-use plastics either already approved or under discussion at both the city and state legislative levels. To get a better sense of how its implementation is going, City Limits’ CLARIFY interns spoke to more than 50 bodega owners and store workers in the outer boroughs to see if they’re still using plastic, and if so, to tell us why.
More than half of those interviewed—about three dozen store owners or staffers—reported that they were still using plastic bags, or a mix of plastic and paper. The student reporters reached out to dozens of businesses, in person and over the telephone, and successfully surveyed 11 store representatives in Queens, 12 in Brooklyn, 13 in The Bronx and 18 in Staten Island. They asked workers if their store was still using plastic bags and a series of questions to understand the challenges in switching to paper bags or customer-provided bags.
Most who were still using plastic bags said it’s because they’re more convenient than paper bags, which rip easily and are more difficult to fill quickly with bulky items. One-third of them said that cost is an issue.