NY's single-use plastic bag ban upheld by state Supreme Court justice

A state Supreme Court justice Thursday upheld a New York law banning single-use plastic bags, setting the stage for the state to start enforcing the ban.

The law took effect on March 1, but the state delayed enforcement due to a lawsuit filed in February by a coalition of packaging companies, bodega owners, and others, with Melville's Poly-Pak Industries — a longtime plastic bag manufacturer — serving as the lead plaintiff.

They contended the 2019 law banning the bags is unconstitutionally vague, an unfair "boon to manufacturers of cloth, fabric, and paper bags,” and in conflict with the state plastic bag recycling program, while maintaining that state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) regulations that provide an exemption for thicker bags were inconsistent with the law.

Acting Supreme Court Justice Gerald W. Connolly in Albany found that while sections of the law were “perhaps inartfully drafted," its intent was clear. It didn’t violate the state’s constitution or conflict with a state plastic bag recycling program, and didn’t grant an unfair private benefit to other bag manufacturers, he wrote.

Justice Connolly on Thursday overturned the thickness exemption, saying it was in “plain contradiction” to the state law. “It remains, of course, within the province of the Legislature to enact legislation to the extent it seeks to expand the list of exempt bags,” he wrote.

DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos has defended the exemption as being in line with the law. 

Environmentalists praised the decision as a victory against a highly visible symbol of plastic pollution, but local bag manufacturers have warned the law would cost jobs. 

“It’s a victory for people who want to see less plastic in the environment,” Judith Enck, a former Environmental Protection Administration administrator and president of advocacy group Beyond Plastics, said. 

“This is one of these laws once it’s in effect, New Yorkers will see the benefits almost immediately.”

She also lauded the decision for overturning the DEC regulation that had allowed thicker plastic bags, which advocates argued could have been an end-run around the ban but the state had worried would ban many reusable plastic bags.

At the same time, top officials at Poly-Pak have repeatedly called the state ban "catastrophic," saying it "would mean the end of our business," and lead to inevitable layoffs for the firm's 300 employees. 

Poly-Pak vice president Ken Trottere declined to comment on the ruling. 

But a director at a plastics industry trade group didn't mince his words: 

"If there's one thing that is very clear from the judge's ruling it's that New York has an unworkable plastic bag law and it must be fixed," said Zachary Taylor, executive director of the American Recyclable Plastic Bag Alliance, a plastics industry association which represents the plastic bag makers.

"If the state moves forward with enforcing this broken law, businesses that are now spending more on [Personal Protective Equipment], safety protocols and other COVID-era requirements, could be put in an impossible situation of being required to provide bags they can’t get.”

The group is ready to help elected officials craft "a workable solution," Taylor said, adding that in the past, the association has cited a 5-cent fee on plastic bags as a "workable solution." 

Seggos, in a statement, said: “The Court's decision is a victory and a vindication of New York State's efforts to end the scourge of single-use plastic bags and a direct rebuke to the plastic bag manufacturers who tried to stop our law." 

Seggos did not say when the state would start enforcing the bag ban, but the agency said it would soon provide notice and direction to impacted stores.

In the meantime, as the case made its way through the court system, stores throughout New York have continued distributing free plastic bags to customers. 

With The Associated Press