Pay Per Bag

From Newsday:
"10-cent grocery bag fee proposed in New York City"

New York City grocery shoppers may soon face a 10-cent fee on all plastic and paper bags, enlisting the nation's largest city in a growing green movement.  The City Council introduced a bill Wednesday that would impose the fee in an effort to spur customers to bring their own reusable bags. Supporters of the bill say it would benefit the city's economy as well as its environment. The measure is expected to be voted upon within the next few weeks. If it passes, New York will join such cities as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington to try to curb the use of plastic bags. The 10-cent fee would not be a tax. Instead, the money raised from the bag sales would benefit the store owners who supplied the bags. Though grocery stores supply the vast majority of the disposable bags used across the city, the fee would also apply to bags sold at other retail stores. It would not apply to restaurant deliveries or most street food carts. The fee would also not be charged to shoppers who use public-assistance programs to buy food. Some business owners have complained that the fee could keep shoppers away. A similar measure was introduced last summer but failed to gather the necessary support and therefore had to be re-introduced in front of the new council, which took office in January. Nineteen councilmembers are co-sponsoring the new bill, seven short of the votes needed to pass it.

^ This is so stupid. It would be one thing if the 10 cents a bag went to the city of NYC to cover the clean-up costs of the bags, but instead it is only going to the stores (they will make more money and the city will continue to pay to clean-up the bags.) Also, this would only apply to grocery and retail stores and no where else that uses bags. I also don't like the clause that those on public assistance wouldn't be charged for the bags. If NYC really cared about the environment, as they claim, then they would make every place and everyone in the city pay to use them. Right now it seems they are only trying to make more money for businesses and could care less about the environment. It is a sad fact that we are moving closer to other countries that make you pay for everyday things. I remember when I lived and then travelled in Europe and you had to pay extra for: bags, ketchup and drink refills. The US is not only the land of the free, but also the land of free bags, ketchup and refills! I don't want to see that change. ^

http://www.newsday.com/news/new-york/10-cent-grocery-bag-fee-proposed-in-new-york-city-1.7514195