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NCC Knows: New York State Implements a Ban on Plastic Bags NCC Knows: New York State implements a ban on plastic bags

By Brady Williams

Brady Williams: For Khaled Al-Zurqa, owner of Brighton Mini-Mart, plastic bags have been a constant.
Khaled Al-Zurqa: Everyone that comes here asks for a bag.
BW: But as of March 1st, New York State has outlawed their use by any business. Though the rule won’t be criminally enforced until April 1st, people like Al-Zurqa are left in a difficult position.
KA: As a business owner, I’m already facing a lot of problems.
BW: The law will allow businesses to use re-useable bags or paper bags with a five-cent fee. For smaller businesses the transition can be costly.
KA: Each bag will cost me about 15 cents compared to about one cent for plastic bags.
BW: Those prices add up quickly, and it’s left Al-Zurqa and other business owners questioning why this law is needed.
KA: I don’t see like the purpose of it. Yes, they say to preserve the environment. It would’ve been better if they would have had stricter recycling rules.
BW: So what is so bad about plastic bags? Well, most Americans get their bags, they empty it and they get what they need, and it goes right straight in the trash. And unlike paper bags, they don’t decompose.
Laura Markley: They don’t break down, they’ll just break down into smaller pieces of plastic, which create microplastics.
BW: These microplastics get dispersed in the environment and can cause food contamination.
LM: There are some potentially endocrine disrupting compounds. So those can interfere with natural hormone production in the human body and in animals.
BW: And what doesn’t get broken down into microplastics, contributes to landfills and ocean waste. The question remains, how much will the ban help?
LM: It’ll help with what we visibly see and probably people won’t have to clean them up as much.
BW: At the very least, the ban should be a step toward greater environmental improvements.
LM: The impact is great that I think people will think more about it, they’ll kind of think, “Why are we having a plastic bag ban? This must be an issue.” Which it really is.
BW: Even if it does get the ball rolling on improved reuse and recycling, it still remains to be seen if that’s worth jeopardizing the profits for people like Khaled Al-Zurqa.
KA: I don’t know how I’m going to handle this situation.
BW: Consumers can know they need to start stocking up on reuseable bags. Al-Zurqa will need to make changes while New York State waits to see if the new laws help. I’m Brady Williams, NCC knows, now you do too.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News)- On March 1, New York State implemented a ban on plastic bags for all businesses that collect a sales tax. The ban is meant to help keep plastics out of the environment, but for small business owners, it could force a challenging transition.

The owner of Brighton Mini-Mart, Khaled Al-Zurqa explained how doing away with bags entirely isn’t a viable option, but a switch to paper bags could be very costly. He said paper bags cost him 15 cents per bag, while the plastic ones are around one cent per plastic bag. Those add up and could drive his profits down. It’s left him questioning whether the law is truly worth the cost.

The trouble with plastic bags stems from their inability to decompose. They simple separate into smaller plastics, known as microplastics, that can cause food contamination. While the direct effects of microplastics aren’t entirely certain, they’ve been linked to the disruption of endocrine functions in the human body.

Laura Markley, a microplastics researcher and PhD student at Syracuse University believes that the ban will mostly help with the pollution we can see. Namely, it should reduce the amount of litter in the environment. She said some of the broader pollution issues might not be drastically solved, but it could be a step in the right direction.

According to Markley, the ban could get people thinking more about reusing products more to cut down on waste. She hopes it will get people thinking about how much plastic they’re using and work to cut back on that amount.

Al-Zurqa remains skeptical about the law, but with April 1 rapidly approaching, he’ll need to make some adjustments to comply with state regulations. Consumers will need to adjust as well. Markley and the state of New York recommend reusable bags as the best option for shoppers.

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