Empire State Today

State Sen. George M. Borrello never thought a ban on plastic bags was a good idea.

Now, other legislators agree with him. The state’s bag waste reduction law was supposed to take effect on March 1, with the goal of drastically reducing the more than 23 billion plastic bags used each year as an environmentally positive move.

However, after a plastic bag manufacturer and bodega owners threatened a legal challenge, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation agreed to delay enforcement until April 1.

The DEC delayed enforcement twice more before announcing on June 15 it would set the issue aside for now due COVID-19 risk concerns about the repeated use of reusable cloth bags or other carriers. It said 30 days notice would be given before enforcement began.

“We have consistently said since the beginning of our outreach campaign that we will focus first on education with enforcement to follow,” the agency said in a release. “Subject to the ongoing litigation, DEC anticipates transitioning to enforcement and will communicate these efforts to impacted businesses. However, as the matter is subject to ongoing litigation, DEC cannot comment further at this time.”

“I am glad that the state recognized the hygiene risks that reusable bags presented in containing the spread of COVID-19 and implemented a temporary suspension of the plastic bag ban,” Borrello told Empire State Today. “The original order suspended the bag ban until June 15, but within the last few days, DEC has clarified that the bag ban is suspended indefinitely. That is the right step, given the continuing presence of COVID-19.”

Borrello, a former Chautauqua County legislator and executive who lives in Sunset Bay, was elected to represent the 57th District in 2019. He is a Republican.

“Although I was not yet a member of the Senate when the bag ban was passed in 2019, I would have voted against it because it is a mandate that imposes extra costs on our businesses, which will ultimately get passed to consumers,” Borrello said. “So, yes, I believe the bag ban should be overturned. If legislation to repeal the ban comes to the Senate floor, I would support it.”

He said public health must be the major concern.

“Currently, most grocery stores are requiring consumers who bring reusable bags to the grocery store to pack their own groceries, which is the safest approach,” Borrello said. “Although COVID-19 has made the use of disposable plastic bags a public health necessity at the moment, before this crisis hit my wife and I used reusable bags for our grocery shopping. I believe we should encourage New Yorkers to choose reusable bags because it does reduce waste in our landfills and also reduces costs for our stores, which helps keep prices down.”

However, the state senator said he doesn’t think this is an issue that should be decided at the Capitol.

“I remain opposed to mandating a plastic bag ban because of the increased costs it represents for stores and consumers as well as the added inconveniences it presents,” Borrello said. “There are more practical and effective ways of protecting the environment. In fact, there are many arguments against substituting paper bags for plastic. Paper production produces 70 percent more pollution than the production of plastic bags and it uses trees that could be absorbing carbon dioxide. Production of paper bags also consumes four times more energy than producing plastic bags.”

If the issue is damage to the earth, there are concerns other than people bringing home their groceries, he said. The solution is obvious.

“We have focused on plastic bags and their environmental impact. But we have ignored the plastic waste that results from the increase use of online ordering from places like Amazon,” Borrello said. “One single plastic bag can hold several items compared with the relatively large amount of packaging used to deliver just one item to your door. This COVID-19 crisis resulted in Amazon having record sales volumes, which also resulted in a massive increase in plastic waste. The best solution is to shop local whenever possible.”

Congressman Tom Reed, R-NY, District 2 state Sen. John Flanagan, who retired from the Legislature on Sunday, and state Assemblyman Andy Goodell, a Republican who represents the 150th District, did not respond to repeated attempts to obtain comments for this story, but had all expressed opposition to the bag ban.