Help Ban the Plastic Bag in New York
By: ajcarapella
By Jeremy Cherson, Legislative Advocacy Manager at Riverkeeper. Reposted with permission from Riverkeeper.
Let’s do this right; ask your reps to support the BYOBag Act
When Governor Cuomo said he would act on plastic bag pollution in 2019, I was hopeful. But then the Governor’s budget proposal came out, and we learned that his single-use plastic bag ban has a big hole in it.
You’ve heard me say it before but everyone needs to know: plastic bag bans without fees on paper and other bags don’t work. Help us end plastic bag pollution in New York State – ask your representatives to support the gold standard Bring Your Own Bag Act today!
When Chicago and Honolulu tried Governor Cuomo’s approach—just a ban on plastic bags—they repealed their laws within months. Retailers responded by switching to heavier single-use plastic bags, and paper bag use skyrocketed. We’ve come too far to see New York make the same mistake and take us back to square one.
The legislation we’re fighting for together – the NYS BYOBag Act – is modeled in part off of California’s successes. In San Jose, reusable bag use increased from 4 to 62 percent after passage of a similar law! Imagine how much cleaner our streets, trees, parks, and waterways will be when we successfully cut our plastic bag use with the NYS BYOBag Act.
Urge your state representatives to support the New York State BYOBag Act by April 1.
