Bay Ridge

Brooklyn pols hate Cuomo’s plastic bag ban

April 25, 2018 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Volunteers handed out lots of reusable shopping bags outside supermarkets on Earth Day.
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Two Brooklyn pols who can’t agree on much of anything hate Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s idea to ban single-use plastic bags from stores.

Lefty Councilman Brad Lander (D-Park Slope) found himself agreeing with right-wing state Sen. Marty Golden (R-C-Bay Ridge) — albeit for different reasons.

Cuomo, who announced his plan on Monday, is seeking an outright ban on single-use plastic bags. That’s in contrast to city legislation sponsored by Lander in 2016 that would have charged shoppers five cents for plastic and paper bags. Lander’s bill was approved by the City Council, but never went into effect because the Cuomo and the State Legislature blocked it.

This week, Lander charged that Cuomo’s plan is toothless because it doesn’t include a fee on paper bags. He predicted that once plastic bags are banned, residents would simply opt for paper.

It’s “bad environmental policy” that will “not reduce solid waste,” Lander said.

For his part, Golden said the legislature was unlikely to pass Cuomo’s bill.

“It’s not happening. You can’t do that, people depend on [plastic bags]; senior citizens, families. You go shopping, you need a bag,” Golden told the New York Daily News.

Golden is by no means a Lander ally; he co-sponsored the state bill with Sen. Simcha Felder (D?R-Borough Park) that blocked the city law from going into effect.

Felder dismissed the Lander bill as “nothing more than a tax disguised as an eco-friendly initiative,” and accused the City Council of “looking to raise money on the backs of hard-working and struggling New Yorkers.”

Cuomo called his bill a step towards “a stronger, cleaner and greener New York for all.” It would, however, garment bags, trash bags and bags used to wrap fruits and sliced meats, prompting Lander to call it an unserious proposal.

“His announcement looks like, gasp, election-year Earth Day politics,” Lander said referring to a primary challenge to Cuomo from actress-activist Cynthia Nixon, who has called Cuomo’s green record “lacking.”

At the 17,000-member Park Slope Food Coop, an environmental Mecca since 1973, shoppers haven’t used plastic bags in more than a decade.

“Many of our members have cloth bags that they have been using for years,” General Manager Joe Holtz told the Brooklyn Eagle. “Plastic and paper bags should both be banned. People might be annoyed at first, but they will get used to it.”

The grassroots group Fight Back Bay Ridge spent Earth Day on Sunday spreading out across Golden’s senate district to hand out reusable shopping bags featuring the hashtag “#NotSoGolden” in protest of the senator’s spotty environmental record.

Plastic bags add 1,700 tons of garbage to New York City’s waste stream each week, according to the group.

“They fill our landfills at alarming rates,” said Bensonhurst resident Catherine Havlicek. “I am a parent of two young men, an aunt to a 5-year old, and hope to one day be a grandparent. I believe we have a moral obligation to leave our planet healthy for them and future generations.”

New York State residents go through 23 billion plastic bags a year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Editor’s note: The Eagle identifies state Senator Simcha Felder by the party affiliation D?R because he was elected as a Democrat, but caucuses with the Republicans.

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