This year will be known for a lot of things, and while legislatively – bail reform changes were the ones that got most attention at the end of 2019 – another state-mandated deadline is fast-approaching.
Beginning on March 1st, 2020 all plastic carryout bags will be banned in New York State. These are the single-use carryout bags that customers at Aldi are already used to not using.
“You see plastic bags hanging in trees, blowing down the streets, in landfills and in our waterways, and there is no doubt they are doing tremendous damage,” Governor Cuomo said in a press release. “Twelve million barrels of oil are used to make the plastic bags we use every year and by 2050 there will be more plastic by weight in the oceans than fish. We need to stop using plastic bags, and today we’re putting an end to this blight on our environment.”
In March 2017, Governor Cuomo created the New York State Plastic Bag Task Force, chaired by Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos. The task force met several times to develop a uniform, comprehensive and equitable solution to the plastic bag problem.
Some stores have already started the process of phasing out single-use plastic bags. Wegmans said that they would start rolling out the change before the March 2020 start-time.
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