Guest Column

Long Beach's new bag ordinance is not about the 5-cent fee

Posted

Happy Earth Day! Our community has a lot to celebrate, and we have taken the steps to minimize our footprint on the planet by being the first city in Nassau County to help eliminate single-use plastic bags.

The ordinance — approved unanimously by the City Council last year, and aimed at reducing the negative environmental and economic impacts of single-use plastic and paper bags — will take effect on Earth Day, and we will join the many cities, states and countries that have already instituted this initiative.

The ordinance is not about the 5-cent fee; it is about the question that each cashier or merchant will ask — “Do you need a bag?”

Each one of us, at that moment, will make a choice to carry the item, bring a reusable bag or accept the 5-cent charge.

Though it's a city ordinance, the 5-cent fee goes to the merchant. This law has proven successful time and time again by other cities to eliminate single-use plastic bags because the people in their communities, in their own small way, can help the planet.

Washington, D.C., implemented the fee to help the cost of funding the cleanup of the polluted Potomac River and, after a few months, the revenue stream slowed as everyone started carrying their own reusable bag.

Single-use plastic bags were introduced in the late 1970s. After four decades, we now know the toll these bags have taken on our earth. Single-use plastic bags are made of fossil fuels; during the manufacturing process carbons go into the atmosphere and these bags cannot be recycled. They do not break down in our landfills, they clog wastewater treatment plants machinery and they blow into our trees and power lines. Worst of all, they flow into our waterways, where they kill aquatic life as they mistake bags for food.

They also trap birds and other wildlife. Last year, Long Beach used 11 million single use plastic bags.

It will be a culture change to remember to carry reusable bags.
We will all have a moment when we forget to bring them, but as we leave our cars and look at our neighbor’s cart with groceries in reusable bags, we will be reminded to carry our own.

It will also be a culture change for merchants as well — when a cashier asks the question, “Do you need a bag,” they are obeying the law.

Don't give them a hard time; instead, thank them for asking. As in other locations that have the law, you will see reusable bags become the norm.

Reusable bags are a great way for merchants to advertise and drive business to their stores, so there will be plenty to go around.

Each one of us will help in this small way to help. Bring our own reusable bag when shopping to create an ongoing happy Earth Day.

Join the city of Long Beach’s Earth Day Celebration on Saturday.
The event will include a Jellyfish Jamboree parade on the boardwalk at 10 a.m., starting at Riverside Boulevard and ending at Kennedy Plaza.

At Kennedy Plaza, there will be free reusable bags given out, eco-friendly vendors from the Farmers Market and Arts in the Plaza, environmentally-friendly organizations, information about the new bag ordinance, entertainment, kids activities, on-site demonstrations. Come celebrate your City by the Sea!

Long Beach resident Scott Bochner is a member of the Western Bays Coalition, a co-founder of the Sludge Stoppers Task Force and member of the Long Beach Environmental Advisory Board.