Bill Text: NY A03417 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Prohibits grocery stores from providing plastic carryout bags and requires grocery stores to provide recyclable paper bags at no charge to customers.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-01-03 - referred to environmental conservation [A03417 Detail]

Download: New_York-2017-A03417-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          3417
                               2017-2018 Regular Sessions
                   IN ASSEMBLY
                                    January 27, 2017
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  DenDEKKER  --  read once and referred to the
          Committee on Environmental Conservation
        AN ACT to amend the  environmental  conservation  law,  in  relation  to
          prohibiting grocery stores from providing plastic carryout bags
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section 1. Subdivision 4  of  section  27-2701  of  the  environmental
     2  conservation  law,  as  added  by  chapter  641  of the laws of 2008, is
     3  amended and four new subdivisions 8, 9, 10 and 11 are added to  read  as
     4  follows:
     5    4. "Plastic carryout bag" means a [plastic carryout] bag made predomi-
     6  nantly of any type of plastic which is provided by a store to a customer
     7  at  the point of sale, but does not include reusable bags, produce bags,
     8  or product bags as defined in this section.
     9    8. "Grocery store" means a retail establishment where  produce,  meats
    10  or  other  food items are regularly and customarily sold for consumption
    11  off the premises.
    12    9. "Produce bag" or "product bag" means any bag without  handles  used
    13  exclusively to carry produce, meats, or other food items to the point of
    14  sale  inside  a  store  or  to  prevent such food items from coming into
    15  direct contact with other purchased items.
    16    10. "Recyclable" means material that  can  be  sorted,  cleansed,  and
    17  reconstituted  using  available  recycling  collection  programs for the
    18  purpose of using the material in  the  manufacture  of  a  new  product.
    19  "Recycling"  does  not include burning, incinerating, or otherwise ther-
    20  mally destroying solid waste.
    21    11. "Recyclable paper carryout bag" means a paper bag that  meets  all
    22  of  the  following  requirements:  (a) is one hundred percent recyclable
    23  overall and contains a minimum of eighty percent recycled material;  (b)
    24  displays the word "Recyclable" in a highly visible manner on the outside
    25  of the bag; and (c) has printed on the bag the name of the manufacturer,
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD05602-02-7
        A. 3417                             2
     1  the  location (country) where the bag was manufactured, and the percent-
     2  age of recycled material used.
     3    §  2.  The  environmental  conservation law is amended by adding a new
     4  section 27-2706 to read as follows:
     5  § 27-2706. Prohibition of plastic bags.
     6    1. No grocery store located in the state may distribute plastic carry-
     7  out bags as defined in section 27-2701 of this title.
     8    2. Such prohibition shall apply to bags provided for  the  purpose  of
     9  carrying  away  goods  from  the  point  of  sale and shall not apply to
    10  produce bags or product bags  as  such  terms  are  defined  in  section
    11  27-2701 of this title.
    12    3. All grocery stores shall provide recyclable paper carryout bags, as
    13  defined in section 27-2701 of this title, at the point of sale and at no
    14  charge  to the customer.  In addition to recyclable paper carryout bags,
    15  grocery stores may offer bags which are  biodegradable  or  compostable.
    16  Grocery stores  may also provide reusable plastic bags when the customer
    17  pays  a  deposit for the use of such bags which shall be returned to the
    18  customer upon the return of the bags to the store.
    19    4. Nothing in this section shall be read to preclude any establishment
    20  from making reusable bags, as defined in section 27-2701 of this  title,
    21  available to customers by sale or otherwise.
    22    5. Nothing in this section shall be read to preclude any establishment
    23  from  providing  produce  bags  or  product  bags, as defined in section
    24  27-2701 of this title, to their customers.
    25    6. Nothing in this section shall prohibit customers from using bags of
    26  any type that they bring to the store themselves or from  carrying  away
    27  goods  that  are  not placed in a bag, in lieu of using bags provided by
    28  the store.
    29    § 3. This act shall take effect on the first of January next  succeed-
    30  ing  the  date  on  which it shall have become a law; provided, however,
    31  that effective immediately, the addition and/or repeal of  any  rule  or
    32  regulation necessary for the implementation of this act on its effective
    33  date  are  authorized and directed to be made and completed on or before
    34  such effective date.