Plastic bag ban regulations tweaked, finalized, DEC says

Regulations for the state's plastic bag ban — effective March 1 — have been tweaked and finalized by the Department of Environmental Conservation, a DEC spokeswoman said Tuesday. 

The new law, which prohibits retailers from handing out single-use plastic bags to customers, has provoked mixed reactions from shoppers, environmentalists, retailers and businesses that sell and manufacture plastic bags.

DEC finalized the regulations after reviewing "approximately 2,500 comments received from stakeholders and communities during the 60-day public comment period and a public comment hearing," the spokeswoman said. 

Updates to the regulations include edits to the definition of "exempt" and "reusable" bags. 

The definition of "reusable bag" was changed to clarify that reusable bags must be made of cloth or other machine-washable fabric or a non-film plastic washable material. 

Clarification of the types of bags exempt from the ban was added, and a paragraph that would have allowed plastic bags "for which there is no reasonable or practical alternative for storing, containing or transporting items, as determined by the department," was deleted. 

A provision added in November by DEC officials that allows thicker, heavier plastic bags, classified as "10 mil," was retained. A mil is a thousandth of an inch.

For comparison, the plastic bags typically offered at supermarkets are 0.5 mil thick. Mulch and fertilizer bags are usually 4 mil; 10 mil bags are not on the market.

Long Island plastic bag manufacturers sought a compromise that would allow bags between 2.25 and 4 mil and said the 10 mil regulation doesn't help them. The machinery in their facilities can't make bags that thick and investing in equipment that could would be too costly, they said. 

Matt Seaholm, executive director of the American Recyclable Plastic Bag Alliance, a plastic industry trade group, said the DEC's regulatory approach "goes too far, too fast and fails to take into consideration repeated requests for a pragmatic compromise." 

Environmental advocates are not wowed by the final regulations, either. Despite the DEC's removal of some provisions environmentalists found worrisome, they said loopholes still exist that could allow retailers to get around the law by providing customers with thicker plastic bags. 

The regulations allow stores to hand out plastic bags if they are washable, can be used at least 125 times, can carry 22 pounds over a distance of at least 175 feet and have a strap or handle. 

"It's clear the DEC rushed its review of the filed comments," Peter M. Iwanowicz, executive director of Environmental Advocates of New York, said. "The final regulations ... exceed the letter of the law and create the conditions for more plastic pollution."

The DEC and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo "will continue to work to develop solutions to combat climate change and protect the environment," DEC commissioner Basil Seggos said in a statement.