New York City just keeps getting greener and greener. Mayor Bloomberg has been trying to run a tight green ship in New York since his election with a goal of reducing greenhouse gases by 30% by 2030. First he launched his GreeNYC, in conjunction with Deputy Mayor for Economic Development and Rebuilding, Daniel L. Doctoroff. This successful multi-media campaign is designed to encourage New Yorkers to go green through simple steps to reduce pollution and greenhouse gases.
“New Yorkers have made clear they want our city to be a sustainable one that pursues environmentally responsible courses of action, and GreeNYC, the consumer education component of our long-term sustainability plan, looks to harness that resolve and raise awareness of steps all of us can take to contribute,” said Deputy Mayor Doctoroff. “
Some of the GreeNYC small steps include things like changing lightbulbs to CFLs, using reusable cloth bags, purchasing Energy Star appliances, using less paper, walking or taking public transport. However, Mayor Bloomberg is now making headlines with his recently announced plastic bag tax or surcharge initiative. Even though New York City has been promoting the use of reusable cloth bags in an effort to minimize petroleum consumption and excess plastic waste, the new plastic bag tax or surcharge will definitely further reduce unnecessary plastic bag use.
Mayor Bloomberg is calling for a 6 cents cost to be added at the register to each plastic bag consumed. The New York Times reports that this could potentially generate more than US$16 million for the city coffers. Of the new plastic bag surcharge, 5 cents will go to New York City and 1 cent will stay with the shopkeepers. This means New Yorkers consume approximately 320 million plastic bags each year; which equates to 40 plastic bags each year for every man, woman and child. These estimates seem modest.
Since plastic bags became popular in the 1970s, they have spread like a plague across many parts of the developing world. Present day estimates on annual global plastic bag consumption range from 500 billion to 1 trillion. Less than 1% of plastic bags are recycled. More than 100 million plastic bags go into local landfills each week. The USA uses 100 billion plastic bags and Canadians uses 10 billion plastic shopping bags per year, reports the Canadian Green Party.
Global sentiments are turning against plastic bags with a global movement to implement bans or taxes on plastic bag use. In some African countries a plastic bag costs roughly 10 cents, as an incentive to carry reusable cloth bags or baskets. Rwanda and the Zanzibar Islands have both banned plastic bags. The European cities of London and Paris have instituted bans on plastic bags. Ireland has a plastic bag tax — the Plastax (CDN 22¢ per bag) — that is estimated to have reduced plastic bag usage by more than 94%.
The North American cities of San Francisco, Tofino, and Leaf Rapids have banned unnecessary plastic bag use. San Francisco was the first American city to institute a ban on plastic grocery bags. The American state of New Jersey was the first state in America to ban plastic bag use. Leaf Rapids, Manitoba was the first Canadian municipality to give plastic grocery bags the boot. Leaf Rapids’ shop owners who offer single use plastic bags can be fined CAN$1000 per day. In British Columbia, Tofino municipality voted to ban plastic shopping bags in 2007.
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