NYC Plastic Bag Law In Effect
by Ashley Schiller on July 31st, 2008
If you give plastic bags away, you must be able to take them back. That’s the basic idea of the recent New York City law.
The law, which went into effect July 23, requires NYC stores that provide plastic carryout bags to accept plastic bags for recycling. Restaurants and non-chain stores of less than 5,000 feet are exceptions. The law mandates that at least one clearly marked bin is set up in each store. Also, stores must sell reusable bags.
Accepted materials include:
- plastic shopping bags
- dry cleaning bags
- newspaper delivery bags
Plastic bags comprise about 2.87 percent of NYC’s residential waste stream, and are the largest source of plastic in the city’s waste.
The bags are best recycled separately, rather than with other items, according to the city. When bags are mixed with other items such as beverage cartons and cans, the organic material contained on those recyclables can contaminate the bags and render the batch unusable.
Use Earth 911 to find a locaiton to recycle plastic bags near you.
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