NYC City Council committee hears plastic bag bill Wednesday, law journal article about NYC bag bill now available
This Wednesday (Nov 19th) at 1:00pm, the New York City Council's Committee on Sanitation and Solid Waste Management will hear the bill to put a 10-cent charge on carryout bags at all stores in NYC. This is the only opportunity for members of the public to comment on the legislation. There will also be a press conference and rally right before the hearing at noon on City Hall steps.
Plastics industry groups, including Novolex (the new parent company to Hilex Poly, which is the biggest plastic bag producer in the U.S.) launched a campaign against NYC's bill last week that includes and inappropriately name bagtheban website (the bill is for a charge, not a ban) and portrays the charge as a tax on small businesses (it's a charge that retailers keep).
Fortunately, a recent law journal article entitled "Plastic Bag Reduction Ordinances: New York City’s Proposed Charge on All Carryout Bags as a Model for U.S. Cities" just became available online. The article details the evolution of plastic bag legislation up until this point, including the role that the plastics industry has taken in lobbying against bag legislation and filing lawsuits as well as rebuttals to industry groups' standard arguments.
Jennie R. Romer & Leslie Tamminen
Tulane Environmental Law Journal
27 Tul. Envtl. L.J. 237 (2014)