As towns defer to county, a plastic bag ban seems unlikely

Will recent bans on single-use plastic bag in Southampton and East Hampton towns inspire more local municipalities — including those on the North Fork — to follow suit?

Probably not, it seems.

Despite outcry from a vocal segment of the public, the supervisors of both Riverhead and Southold towns agree that idea of banning plastic bags would best be addressed in the county Legislature.

But Suffolk legislators seem equally unlikely to bring up the topic. Some cite a lack of political will to rally support for a ban while others think the Legislature should wait to see if existing bans work.

Over the past few weeks, advocates of a ban and concerned North Fork residents have signed petitions and spoken out at Southold Town Board meetings. A public forum last year also found widespread support for a townwide ban.

The bags, activists say, threaten local wildlife, add litter to parks and roads and pollute waterways. A move toward reusable bags would reduce the amount of garbage, they claim.

Opponents say eliminating the cheap bags would increase costs for business owners, and others worry that reusable bags could pose public safety hazards.

At a Southold Town Board meeting last Tuesday, Supervisor Scott Russell reiterated his position, saying he would support a plastic bag ban at the town level if Riverhead Town did the same.

A regional approach led by the county, he said, would be even better.

Southold’s solid waste coordinator James Bunchuck agreed, saying a county-wide ban would likely be more effective than bans in several individual towns; however, he said, many plastic bags are reused to line garbage pails or pick up pet waste.

Mr. Bunchuck said the town has tried to recycle the plastic bags they recover at the trash facility in Cutchogue, but recycling companies aren’t interested in dirty, contaminated bags. He believes an outreach campaign teaching residents to recycle plastic bags themselves would help the most.

“Do you take people’s choice away for people being careless?” he asked. “I’m not a policy maker so I don’t know … but we do see a lot of people up there who use the bags for other purposes.

Related: Where else have plastic bags been banned? And have those bans worked?

Mr. Russell’s primary concern is increasing costs for Southold Town businesses while their nearby competitors aren’t forced to do the same, he said.

“They’re already having trouble competing because they don’t have the purchasing power of the big corporations,” he said at the meeting. “Let’s make sure that the businesses all compete on a level playing field.”

But support from Riverhead Town may not be forthcoming.

Of the three candidates on the ballot for supervisor this November, both incumbent Sean Walter and Republican candidate Jodi Giglio said they opposed implementing the North Fork’s first plastic bag ban.

“If that’s a regional problem, that’s something that needs to be solved at a state or a county level,” Mr. Walter said. He said having a variety of town bans would create a “piecemeal” approach that he believes would make it difficult for businesses to adapt.

“The reality is, a lot of these individual bans, they may not be uniform, they’ll be difficult for businesses,” he said. “If this is such a scourge, let the county or the state take care of it.”

Mr. Walter said plastic bags should be reused — like in garbage bins — and not simply thrown away, adding that trash cleanup would be more beneficial for the environment.

“A lot of people like to scapegoat the plastic bags,” he said. “I wonder how many of those same people walk past trash every day and don’t pick it up.”

Related: What you need to know about plastic bags

Only Riverhead Democratic challenger Anthony Coates said he’d support a plastic bag ban at the town level.

“I think over time people will come to change their behavior,” Mr. Coates said. “Eventually the marketplace shakes itself out. In the end, markets find their own level.

“Somebody has to start somewhere …  toward reducing our waste stream,” he added.

Even so, Mr. Coates said he’d rather have Suffolk County legislators lead the way to “level the playing field.”

“It belongs on a regional basis,” Mr. Coates said. “When you really think about it, we as a county are larger than 17 states. It’s a large marketplace.”

However, the idea of a plastic bag ban isn’t palatable in the Legislature.

Legislator Al Krupski (D-Cutchogue) said he’s spoken to his colleagues over the past two years and found practically no support for the ban. Mr. Krupski said it’s not worth spending “political capital” on a plastic bag ban discussion when he knows it’s dead in the water.

“I’m not going to try to force it, because this is something that you can’t force,” he said.

A renewed plastic bag ban discussion wouldn’t be the first time the County Legislature has broached the subject, or even the first time it passed a ban.

In March 1989, the legislature created a law to ban the use of plastic grocery bags and takeout food containers, the first of its kind in the nation, according to an article in the New York Times.

The measure passed by a vote of 16-0, with two abstentions, and was set to take effect that summer. But court challenges by the plastics industry immediately derailed the law and a series of last-minute amendments further delayed its implementation, the Times reported in 1991.

“Even though it started as a good thing, it has a potential for being a step backward at this time,” Ray Cowan, then regional administrator of the state Department of Environmental Conservation, told the Legislature at the time.

By 1992, Suffolk County refused to enforce the law and legislators voted for another delay, eventually tossing the ban out altogether.

Other steps, like recycling initiatives and a ban on polystyrene containers, were passed, but additional attempts in 2008 and 2011 to limit plastic bag use encountered strong resistance from grocery store chains and the plastics industry, according to a Newsday article.

Personally, Mr. Krupski said he understands the concerns of environmentalists who oppose the bags and doesn’t feel it’d be a burden on local business owners.

“From someone who’s in business, businesses adjust,” he said. “There was a time we didn’t have plastic bags.”

But the legislator said he has other priorities, like bringing committee meetings to the East End and improving water quality, that he wants to focus on.

In a written statement, presiding officer of the Legislature Duwayne Gregory (D-Amityville) didn’t take a stand for or against a ban, but said a proposal would need to be discussed after seeing how the bans work on the South Fork.

“I recognize the gravity of the threat that plastic bags present to our environment, particularly to wildlife,” Mr. Gregory said in a statement. “Before committing to a county-wide ban, however, the Legislature should examine both the implementation and the impact of the ban in Southampton.”

But some county legislators had expected a plastic bag ban to have been brought up already.

“I’m just surprised we’ve not had this discussion yet,” said Republican minority leader Kevin McCaffrey (R-Lindenhurst). “It’s an eventuality that it’ll come before [the Legislature].”

Mr. McCaffrey noted that the Legislature recently voted to ban microbeads in shower gels, so the idea of banning a product for purposes of environmental conservation isn’t out of the ordinary.

The legislator said he hasn’t made up his mind on the plastic bag issue.

He believes a compromise could be reached between those who fear environmental damage and those concerned about burdening businesses.

“We’d be looking to find a balance,” Mr. McCaffrey said.

Exactly when they’ll start pursuing that balance remains unclear.

psquire@timesreview.com

Photo credit: Vera Chinese

Three Places That Have Banned Plastic Bags

The South Fork

On Earth Day, April 22, 2015, Southampton Town became the latest South Fork municipality to enforce a ban on single-use thin plastic bags, following similar action in Southampton Village, Quogue and Sagaponack.

The townwide ban prohibits retail stores from giving customers plastic bags at checkout, although reusable plastic bags thicker than 2.25 millimeters and paper bags are still allowed.

“I think it’s been overwhelmingly effective,” said Southampton Town Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst. “If you go into any of the village stores now, many of them offer reusable bags when you walk away with their merchandise. Overall, it’s been very positive. I think most people understand it’s a small change of habit that has a big impact.”

But Ms. Throne-Holst said she’s been disappointed to see some businesses “weasel around” the intent of the law by using the thicker plastic bags.

“I think that’s a shame because people go to King Kullen and they’re perfectly fine using their own bags or using another alternative,” she said. She added that enforcement has not been a problem, as all retail stores have been in compliance with the new law.

A similar ban in East Hampton Town was also approved last winter and took effect last month.

San Luis Obispo County, Calif.

This county of roughly 46,000 residents prohibited retail stores from handing out plastic bags with purchases in 2012. Under the law, businesses are allowed to give out paper bags for a 10-cent fee. Before it took effect, the ban faced a lawsuit from opponents, which was eventually dismissed.

Patti Toews, program director at the county’s Integrated Waste Management Authority, said the ban was intended to reduce the bags’ impact on the natural environment, upon which the county relies for tourism dollars. The bags also clogged up storm drains during California’s sudden downpours and were being blown onto nearby properties.

“What we were seeing were these plastic bags all over the place,” she said.

The ban also encountered opposition from some shoppers, but in the end, Mr. Toews said, “it is better for the community as a whole.”

“The plastic bag ban is super successful, über successful,” she added. “It’s just amazing how much cleaner our environment is.”

Several other California counties followed suit, enacting their own bans. A statewide ban was set to take effect this summer, but was pushed back after opponents, including the plastics industry, lobbied for a public referendum on the proposal in November 2016.

Meanwhile, San Luis Obispo County is now considering a ban on polystyrene containers.

Hawaii

In July, Hawaii became the first state in the nation to outlaw single-use plastic bags that are thinner than 2.25 millimeters. The ban took effect July 1, but according to an article in Hawaii News Now, only 4,000 of the 9,200 local businesses that received compliance forms replied.

About 30 percent of businesses that responded said the ban didn’t apply to their company or that they wouldn’t offer bags at all. Another 30 percent planned to use recyclable paper bags, while 10 percent said they would use compostable bags — even though there isn’t a composting facility in Hawaii, according to the article.

The remaining 30 percent have environmentalists upset, as those businesses are ordering thicker plastic bags that are considered reusable. According to the report, those reusable bags take even longer to disintegrate.

Conservationists have since criticized the law for that loophole.

“It’s a great step forward,” one conservationist told Hawaii News Now, “but a number of stores have taken a step back.”

Facts about plastic bags

Can you add plastic bags to a recycling bin?

Plastic bags are recyclable, but local municipalities recommend recycling them separately. If mixed with other plastic items such as bottles, plastic bags can jam recycling equipment and cause damage. Instead, residents should either return clean bags to stores to be recycled or throw them out with regular garbage to be sorted at a waste facility.

What’s more environmentally friendly paper or plastic?

Plastic bags pose more of a littering threat than paper bags and can harm local wildlife, but paper bags require more energy and water to produce. In general, reusable bags are the preferred alternative to both.

Are reusable fabric bags a health hazard?

A 2011 study by the University of Arizona and Loma Linda University in California found that 3 percent of shoppers who use reusable bags said they regularly washed their bags. The same study found that 99 percent of reusable bags tested positive for bacteria, including coliform and E. coli. However, the study’s author told USA Today that washing the bags about once a week and storing them in a cool, dry place would sufficiently clean them.