Bag ban set to begin
County-wide ban on single-use plastic retail bags takes effect Monday
KINGSTON, N.Y. >> If you plan to do any shopping in Ulster County, you may want to bring along a reusable bag to pack your purchases, or the trip could cost you more than you bargained for.
The county’s ban on single-use plastic retail bags goes into effect Monday, meaning supermarkets, convenience stores, department stores and other retail establishments will be prohibited from using the bags for groceries and other purchases. Stores can offer to pack their patrons’ wares in paper bags, but those bags will cost shoppers 5 cents each.
During a press conference Friday at Kingston Plaza, County Executive Pat Ryan called on county residents to spend the weekend gearing up for the change, saying people have a “moral obligation” to take action.
“Changing each one of our kind of regular behaviors and mak
ing that the norm ... that’s what I ask every single person in the county to do,” Ryan said. “This is one of those rare examples where each one of us individually can have a role and be empowered to change the situation, and so I ask everyone’s help to do that.”
Ulster County is the 415th municipality across 27 states to adopt some sort of singleuse plastic bag ban, said Judith Enck, a former regional director for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the founder of Beyond Plastics.
While a handful of local municipalities, including
New Paltz, have adopted local laws banning single-use plastic bags, Ulster is the first county in the state to ban their use countywide. New York subsequently adopted a statewide ban on single-use plastic bags that will go into effect in 2020.
Enck was among a number of elected officials and environmental advocates joining Ryan at the press conference to push Ulster County’s Bring Your Own Bag Act ahead of Monday’s launch.
It’s been estimated that more than 100 million singleuse plastic bags are used each year in the United States. The bags, used by businesses ranging from supermarkets to clothing stores, are considered by some to be a scourge on the environment because they are not biodegradable.
Environmental groups say tens of thousands of animals, including whales, birds, seals and turtles, die every year from plastic bag litter in the water because they mistake the bags for food, such as jellyfish.
Some estimates have said that without a drastic reduction in the amount of plastic produced, plastics will outweigh fish in the world’s oceans by 2050.
“This is an issue that affects every part of our environmental interest,” Enck said.
“Plastic pollution, we’ve all heard the stories,” said Ulster County Legislature Chairwoman Tracey Bartels. “It litters our waterways, it litters our airways, our streams, it’s in our bodies, it disrupts our hormones, and right now it’s
threatening our very survival.”
“This is a global crisis,” she said.
Bartels, a nonenrolled voter who aligns with Democrats in the Legislature, said she expects some “growing pains” as shoppers and businesses adjust to new law. But as with the law that banned smoking in indoor public places in New York, she said, people will change their habits.
While the law goes into effect Monday, the county won’t begin issuing fines for noncompliance until Jan. 1, 2020, giving stores and shoppers time to get used to the ban.
“People will just become accustomed to it, they’ll just become used to it,” Bartels said.
Legislators adopted the ban last September. County Executive Michael Hein, who has since left for a state job, signed the measure in October.
Under the law, stores no longer will be permitted to bag groceries in single-use plastic bags. Instead, customers will be required to bring their own reusable bags or pay 5 cents for each paper bag purchased at checkout counters.
Single-use produce bags in grocery stores will remain available.
Restaurants located outside of grocery stores, convenience stores and food marts are exempt from the ban. Also, shoppers who receive assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or the
Women, Infants and Children nutritional program will be exempt from the 5-cent fee for paper bags provided at checkout.
The Bring Your Own Bag Act is one of several laws or proposals in Ulster County aimed at reducing nonbiodegradable waste. In 2015, the county banned the use of polystyrene (Styrofoam) take-out containers and cups by the county itself and all restaurants in its borders; Ryan last month singed legislation making plastic straws request-only items in restaurants, starting in September; and two legislators have introduced a bill that would require restaurants to ask patrons if they want plastic stirrers, cutlery and individual condiment packets.