A Likely Fee on Shopping Bags Divides New Yorkers

Enjoy all those free carryout and grocery bags while you can, New Yorkers.

City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito announced on Thursday her support of a bill that would place a 5 cent fee on plastic and paper bags. The proposal is modeled after similar laws that have passed in other states, and is meant to cut down on the immense volume of bags hanging in trees, blowing in the wind and clogging the city's waterways.

Mark-Viverito's support is likely the last vote needed to pass bill 209 — known as "The Bag Bill" — in a vote scheduled for next week. The bill will cover retail, convenience and grocery stores, but there are several exceptions, including restaurants and street vendors, state-regulated liquor stores and the paper medicine bags in pharmacies.

"Our approach to reducing plastic bag waste must be . . . bold, and we must join efforts by cities across the country and around the world to tackle this issue head-on," Mark-Viverito said in a statement.

Many New Yorkers have praised the environmental aim of the bill, which is modeled after similar legislation that has successfully reduced bag use in other cities across the country.

At Sunac Natural Foods on 18th Street in Manhattan, 30-year-old cashier Dini Primera was bagging groceries for a few customers.

"It's good for environment, because plastic bags — we can not reuse," she said.

Not all New Yorkers, however, are backing the new fees.

Glenn Rodriguez was chatting with friends in the 44 Grocery Inc. Deli and Grill in his Brooklyn neighborhood of Park Slope. When asked about the bag fee, he immediately came out against the proposal.

"Uptown the supermarkets are expensive, the people up there got more money than the people out here, they can afford it," Rodriguez said. "People around here can't afford it, and it's wrong."