Paper or plastic? The question's not just for groceries as towns look at leaf bags

Towns around Long Island are looking to dispose of a longtime autumn tradition.

Officials from Great Neck to Hampton Bays are encouraging or requiring residents to dump their freshly raked -- or blown -- leaves into compostable paper bags instead of plastic bags.

North Hempstead has 30,000 biodegradable bags for sale as part of an effort to keep plastic trash bags out of the waste stream. Town officials are studying whether to ban the yearslong practice of putting leaves in plastic bags for curbside pickup, said North Hempstead Supervisor Judi Bosworth.

Southampton Town bans the curbside disposal of leaves in plastic bags, as do many municipalities around the country.

Officials in other towns have worked to discourage residents from using plastic bags. Brookhaven has a limited number of the compostable paper bags available for residents.

The change comes from environmental and workforce concerns. For crews working at landfills and waste transfer stations, separating leaves from plastic adds to the workload.

"They can't get every single bag," said Igor Sikiric, executive director of North Hempstead's Solid Waste Management Authority. "They'll go unnoticed."

Plastic can linger in the compost created from the leaves and plant material. Scraps from the bags can then turn up in flower beds or gardens, Sikiric said, resulting in "plastic scattered everywhere."

Purchasing the paper bags in bulk for towns with thousands of houses is an expensive investment, officials said, especially as they struggle with the 0.73 percent property tax cap for 2016, the lowest in New York State history.

The Town of Huntington each year spends more than $240,000 on plastic bags provided to roughly 64,000 households. Switching to the compostable paper bags would cost significantly more, said Peter Gunther, Huntington's highway superintendent. Gunther said he is researching the issue and has submitted three proposals for the town board to consider.

North Hempstead is charging residents $2 for five paper bags. Sikiric said he expects the town to break even or lose money on the investment.

Bosworth said the paper bags, which can hold 30 gallons of leaves, will help the town's sanitation workers as well as the environment. "You can't see what's in the black plastic bags," Bosworth said. "It's something we need to be more aware of."

Steering residents away from plastic has been challenging for municipal officials.

"People are reluctant" to change their habits, Southampton Highway Superintendent Alex Gregor said. "The way it was done before, everyone raked out their woods, their lawns and put it [leaves and debris] on the edge of the road" in plastic bags.

Often, "people blow out the woods," Gregor said. "Everyone has backpack leaf blowers, people are cleaning out the woods to create more property for themselves."

Municipalities generally prohibit an old way of disposing of leaves: raking them into the street and leaving them loose. In Hempstead, for example, doing that is a $500 violation.

Southampton crews can collect loose leaves dropped at the curb, but only for residents 73 and older. Residents can also haul them to their local landfills.

By Scott Eidler

scott.eidler@newsday.com@ScottEidler

Scott Eidler is a deputy editor for the towns department at Newsday. Scott has worked at Newsday since 2012 and previously covered municipal government and education.