NYC Bag Fee Cleared for Final City Hall Approval

Pictured: Environmental groups and elected officials gathered at New York City Hall in April in support of the bag fee bill. Photos by John V. Santore

BROOKLYN, NY — Legislation placing a fee on non-reusable paper and plastic bags has been cleared for a final New York City Council vote this week.

The Committee on Sanitation and Solid Waste Management approved the bill Wednesday. The full Council is expected to take the measure up on Thursday. It currently has 26 co-sponsors — a bare majority.

Sanitation committee chair Antonio Reynoso, whose district includes parts of Williamsburg, Greenpoint and Bushwick, voted for the bill, along with councilmembers Andy King and Costa Constantinides. Vanessa L. Gibson of the Bronx abstained and Steven Matteo of Staten Island voted "No."

The legislation would require retailers to charge at least a nickel for non-reusable paper and plastic bags.

Bill backers have pitched it as a way to encourage residents to use reusable bags instead.

The bill would also require the city to work with local companies and nonprofits to distribute reusable bags to low-income communities, and would exempt residents paying for goods with public assistance from the fee.

If approved, the bag fee would go into effect Oct. 1.

In 2014, Kathyrn Garcia, commissioner of the NYC Department of Sanitation, told a Council committee that the department collects 91,000 tons of paper and plastic bags per year, at a taxpayer cost of $12.5 million.

Statewide, around 9.37 billion bags are used every year, Garcia said.

NYC's bag-fee bill was first introduced back in 2014, and has been stalled at 22 "Yes" votes before being reworked this year. The new version of the bill drops the minimum bag fee from 10 cents to 5 cents, among other changes.