With Sweeping Plastics Ban, New York Village Joins Environmental Vanguard - NYTimes.com

With Sweeping Plastics Ban, New York Village Joins Environmental Vanguard - NYTimes.com: "The Westchester Board of Legislators is now considering following Hastings-on-Hudson’s lead and banning both types of plastic. Catherine Parker, a Democrat who is chairwoman of the legislators’ environment and energy committee, is promoting the bill. In 2011, as a member of Rye’s City Council, Ms. Parker voted for the ban on plastic bags there — the first in the county.

“One reason we want the county to take this on is so that each municipality does not get bullied by the grocers’ association,” she said. “We’re much better equipped to deal with that pressure.”

In New York City, rather than ban plastic bags, some members of the City Council have proposed a mandatory 10-cent fee on both paper and plastic bags. Councilman Brad Lander, a Democrat who co-sponsored the bill, said that a ban on plastic alone would compel people to switch to more expensive paper bags, in turn hurting businesses.

“We want people to switch to reusable bags, not paper bags,” he said. “In those places where they have put a charge on both types of bags, you see a 60 to 90 percent reduction in single-use bags, period. People hate paying for something that used to be free.”"



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