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City Council Approves 5-Cent Plastic Bag Fee

By Kathleen Culliton | May 5, 2016 5:00pm

MANHATTAN — The City Council approved a bill that mandates nickel fees on disposable bags Thursday, after two years of debate.

The new law, scheduled to take effect on Oct. 1, requires that all New York City stores charge five cents for paper and plastic bags in the hopes the small fee will encourage customers to bring their own bags from home.

Councilman Brad Lander first introduced a controversial 10-cent fee bill in 2013 and modeled it on similar laws enacted in Washington, D.C. and California.

It faced opposition from critics who argued the fee would burden low-income shoppers and questioned allowing store owners to retain the profit of the bag fee.

“It’s a tax on all of our constituents,” Councilman Steven Matteo said at the bill’s hearing on Wednesday. “To add a fee and send it to the private business is a precedent we should not be setting."

But a recent show of support from Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito earned the bill the majority votes in needed to pass through City Council. 

Lander believes that the outrage the bill evokes is a sure sign it will change consumer behavior.