Steven Cohen, executive director of Columbia University’s Earth institute, writes about a recent law that was passed by the New York City government to charge a fee for paper and plastic bags that are currently given away for free to shoppers. This bill has stirred great debate and finally passed after two years of resistance. Mayor Bill de Blasio is in full support of the law. The purpose of the fee is not to collect money from shoppers but to raise awareness of the extra unnecessary consumption of paper and plastic that New Yorkers take advantage of everyday. The hope is that this fee will lead to New Yorkers bringing in their own plastic bags when shopping. The overuse bagging has filled up our landfills. According to J. David Goodman of the New York Times, the Sanitation Department has claimed to collect 10 billion plastic bags, that have only being used once, annually. What might seem like a minor change can have huge impact on the environment and our landfills.
More laws like this that will force people to ponder their actions and reduce the over-consumption of a product. For instance, beverage containers are all of one time use. As a initiative to force New Yorkers to recycle, five sets are awarded of every water bottle returned. This should extend to all beverages, the water bottle initiative should be applied to states other than New York. Cohen advises that all truck deliveries should have a “two-way commerce.” When dropping off products, drivers should pick up reusable containers and packaging. This is known as a circular economy, where goods are reused and recycled. As an example, my family has water containers delivered to our home every month, and the used containers are picked up with every delivery.
