Tuesday, March, 19, 2024 12:53:57

This ban would forbid grocery stores from offering plastic bags for most of the purchases

The plan also involved providing local governments with the option to levy 5 cents fee on paper bags

Reports confirm that New York has formally become the third state in the United States of America to ban plastic bags. To institute the ban, Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York state has recently signed a legislation and selected Earth Day as a day on which the state would enact the law, which will come into effect from next March.

Apparently, in the last month, the Governor and fellow democrats reached an agreement to implement in New York state the prohibition on single-use plastic grocery bags and also worked to finalize budget agreements. This ban would forbid grocery stores from offering plastic bags for most of the purchases. California has also done the same since a state-wide ban was confirmed in 2016.

Sources familiar with the matter informed that with this smart and multi-faceted action, New York will be leading the way towards safeguarding the natural resources for now as well as the future generations of New Yorkers. The Governor had proposed the plan for banning plastic bags as part of his $175 billion budget proposal.

Reportedly, the plan also involved providing local governments with the option to levy 5 cents fee on paper bags, 3 cents of which would go to the Environmental Protection Fund of the state and 2 cents goes towards the local government.

Andrew Cuomo also announced in February that he wanted to lessen the number of amenities due to the reducing inmate population of the state and the budget also covers a provision that allows employers to provide workers three hours off to vote on the day of election.

Sources added that another provision includes imposing congestion tolls to ease traffic in the crowded parts of Manhattan and fund transit developments, however, details are still being discussed. Other pending issues are still on the verge of negotiations, including public financing of political campaigns and criminal justice reform.

Source Credit: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6953067/Governor-Andrew-Cuomo-signs-law-banning-plastic-bags-making-New-York-state-so.html