Environmental News

Published 4 years ago4y ago • Bookmarks: 89

March 5, 2020

The Hudson Independent is now featuring an environmental news column with contributions from our rivertowns’ Environmental Advisory Committees, environmental leaders in our region, Sustainable Westchester and the county’s elected officials.

Bag Waste Reduction Law

People have been calling it the “plastic bag ban,” but the actual name of the legislation is the “Bag Waste Reduction Law.” As the name suggests, it is important to note that the legislation is not intended to simply replace plastic bags with paper bags. The fact is there’s not enough paper to fill that demand. Without plastic bag usage, the need for paper bags in New York State could mount up to four billion bags per year. And, paper bags have an even larger environmental footprint to produce than single use plastic bags (other environmental hazards of single use plastic notwithstanding). They also cost more than five to seven times more to manufacture.

The bill went into effect on March 1. The law gives authority to each municipality (county or city) to impose a mandatory five cent fee on paper bags or not. In absence of a mandated fee (as in the case of Westchester), individual retailers may choose to charge a fee or not. Some stores will not offer paper bags at all, requiring their shoppers to either bring their own bags or purchase reusable shopping totes from the store. Other stores have been offering free store branded totes when shoppers recycle their plastic bags at that location or have been giving the proceeds of the sale of their branded bags to Environmental organizations.

Support our Sponsors

Some basics of the new law:

Prohibits the distribution of plastic carry out bags from a person/entity required to charge sales tax.
Specific plastic bags for exempt items such as: produce, fish, deli, bulk items and prescriptions may still be distributed.
Shoppers may bring and reuse their own bags of any type (including plastic).
Stores will still be required to collect plastic bags for recycling.
In municipalities which require a fee for paper bags, persons shopping with certain food assistant programs (the supplemental nutritional assistance program, special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants and children, or any successor programs used as full or partial payment for the items purchased) will be exempt from paying the fee.

County Executive Outlines Steps on Food Scrap Recycling

Westchester County Executive George Latimer outlined next steps for a Westchester County Food Scrap Recycling Transport and Disposal Program. This would work by having the county solicit bids for county-wide hauling services. The program will be opened to all municipalities within refuse disposal district #1 with two options: 1) municipalities can continue or establish a program for curbside pick-up of residential food scraps and transport those to the hauler’s transfer station with each municipality paying for the pick-up and transportation to the hauler; and/or 2) the creation of a municipal drop-off area for collection of residential food scraps where the hauler would pick up from the location, which is essentially cost neutral for the municipalities.

In the meantime, the county’s Department of Environmental Facilities has begun planning for the creation of a Westchester County Compost & Education Facility. Partnering with a neighboring municipality, the county will establish a small-scale composting site at the Household Hazardous Material Recovery Facility (“H-MRF”) on the County’s Grasslands campus. The Facility will provide hands-on education for residents, students, and municipal officials. Compost created at this site would be given to county residents for free with the remainder to be given to County Parks Department.

Lastly, Latimer outlined steps currently being taken to implement a six-week pilot program where scraps from a local municipality will be delivered to the Yonkers Transfer Station. These scraps will then be hauled to Ulster County for composting.

Read or leave a comment on this story...

Support our Sponsors