120+ Organizations Submit Letter Urging NYS DEC to Enforce State's Plastic Bag Ban, Bottle Bill & More | 5/27/2020

May 27, 2020

Commissioner Basil Seggos
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation
625  Broadway
Albany, New York  12233

Dear Commissioner Seggos:

Thank you for your public service during the covid-19 crisis.  We also extend our thanks to the professional staff at the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) for their hard work during this difficult time. 

As regions throughout the state begin to re-open, it is important that we work for a cleaner and more sustainable future. To that end, we urge the DEC to do three things without delay:

1.       Take steps to enforce the statewide plastic bag ban, which took effect on March 1, 2020.

2.      Inform supermarkets that they should not prohibit consumers from using reusable bags.

3.      Inform stores that they need to resume the redemption of all 5-cent beverage container deposits.

Plastics Bags

According to the DEC, New Yorkers use a staggering 23 billion plastic bags each year. Plastic bags take over 500 years to break down, harming fish and other wildlife and clogging machinery at recycling facilities.

New York was off to a good start when the plastic bag ban took effect on March 1 as many customers were bringing their own reusable bags. But when a Long Island-based plastic bag company sued the state to block the ban, DEC agreed to an initial 30-day delay on implementation. Then the health crisis hit and DEC extended the enforcement of the law twice, pushing the deadline for enforcement until June 15, 2020. 

We strongly urge you not to unnecessarily extend the deadline any further but to put stores on notice that the DEC now anticipates they will soon be required to comply. We also urge you to educate the public that the existing law will soon go into effect.

This can be done in a way that protects the health of grocery store workers who may have concerns that consumers are not using clean reusable bags.  Customers can be asked to pack their own groceries when they bring in their own bags, as the California Department of Industrial Relations Division of Occupational Safety and Health recommends.

Reusable Bags Are Safe and Cost-Effective

Banning plastic bags to merely shift to paper bags is not the most environmentally sound option. Paper bags are more expensive than plastic bags, costing stores more money.  Instead, the DEC needs to return to supporting the use of reusable bags and inform stores that they cannot prohibit customers from using their own reusable bags.

There have been reports that some stores are prohibiting customers from using reusable bags, though such policies vary week by week. While some grocery workers are concerned about contracting the virus through contact with reusable bags, the Center for Disease Control recently amended their website to make clear that touching surfaces is not a significant mode of transmitting the virus. There is also no scientific evidence that reusable bags spread covid- 19. The covid-19 virus appears to spread mainly from person-to-person when individuals are in close contact with one another, through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or talks. 

Consumers can be urged to wash their reusable bags and can be asked to pack their own groceries, if they are able.

We request that the DEC inform stores that they cannot prohibit people from using their own reusable bags.

The Return of the “Bottle Bill”

In 1982, the NYS Legislature adopted one of the most sweeping and effective environmental laws in the history of the state. A simple mandatory nickel deposit on certain beverage containers has resulted in cleaner communities, better quality recyclables, and the creation of jobs. It is also an important source of revenue for many New Yorkers who are struggling economically.

Containers that have beverage deposits achieve a substantially higher recycling rate than containers that are recycled through municipal recycling programs. According to the Container Deposit Institute:

• Aluminum cans with deposits achieve a recycling rate of 78%. Without deposits, the recycling rate is only 36%.

• PET plastic bottles with deposits achieve a recycling rate of 59%. Without deposits, the recycling rate is only 14%.

• Glass bottles with deposits achieve a recycling rate of 64%. Without deposits, the recycling rate is only 14%.

Many consumers, having already paid the five-cent deposit and are stockpiling returnable containers at home. Social distancing must be established at the container return areas at stores, just as it has been done at check-out lines.

As New York State Reopens, We Must Renew Our Commitment To The Environment

At the start of the pandemic, we understood that certain issues needed to be put on the back burner. But it is now time to again enforce the plastic bag ban and the bottle bill in order to ensure the myriad of environmental benefits they provide.

9 million metric tons of plastic enter the ocean every year. In the next decade, there will be one pound of plastic in the ocean for every three pounds of fish. Plastics are now made from a byproduct of fracking. There are microplastic particles in the air we breathe and the food we eat. We need to be able to address the plastic pollution problem and boost recycling, while also working for a healthy and sustainable economic recovery from this health crisis.

We look forward to hearing from you on these important matters.  Thank you.

Sincerely,