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Dear John:

Today’s the day! At long last, plastic bags are banned across New York.

You’ll still be able to walk into a store in NYC, buy items, and take them home if you forget a reusable bag, but you’ll be charged five cents for a paper bag. Three cents of the fee will go to the NYS Environmental Protection Fund, and two cents will go towards purchasing reusable bags.

Together, we overcame a well-funded opposition campaign and banned single-use plastic bags in one of the biggest states in the country. It's a huge win for our health, our oceans, and our planet.

We have many more fights to mitigate the worst of the climate crisis and build a more resilient future. As your Comptroller, I will make the climate crisis a top priority for citywide leadership. Can you celebrate this win by chipping in to support our campaign? Every $1 you give will be matched by $8 in public financing -- chip in $10 or any amount today → [[link removed]]

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If you’re thinking: “Didn’t we ban plastic bags a long time ago?” you’re half right -- this victory has been a long time in the making.

Starting in 2014, we built a diverse coalition to win one of the closest votes in City Council history in 2016.

But then the Governor and State Legislature overturned our law in 2017. We had to pass three separate bills in the City Council and join allies in Albany to win a statewide ban in March 2019.

Enforcement of the statewide plastic bag ban -- along with a 5-cent fee on paper bags here in New York City to encourage people to bring reusable bags -- was supposed to have started on April 1, 2020. But a combination of the pandemic and a lawsuit from plastic bag manufacturers delayed enforcement until today.

The plastic bag industry latched onto the fear and uncertainty around the transmission of COVID-19, citing misleading claims [[link removed]] about studies showing a risk of spreading the virus on plastic bags.

Thankfully, over the last six months, we’ve learned a lot more about how COVID-19 spreads [[link removed]] and most of us have stopped disinfecting our mail and are comfortable bringing our reusable bags to the store again.

While banning plastic bags won’t save the climate on its own, a meaningful reduction in the demand for this petroleum-based product and in the microplastics clogging our oceans is a significant step forward!

We have the chance next year to elect new, bold, progressive leadership to bring NYC into the future -- can you celebrate this latest victory by chipping in to our people-powered campaign today? [[link removed]]

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Here’s to all of you who helped win this one, and to the fights ahead.

-- Brad

P.S. Throughout the pandemic, my office has been collecting Fresh Direct bags (since the company stopped reusing them) and bringing them to emergency food providers like People in Need and the Kensington/Windsor Terrace Mutual Aid network. At this point, we’ve recycled over 25,000 bags for use in distributing emergency food, diapers, and supplies. If you have a growing pile of Fresh Direct bags at home, bring them by one of the following drop off locations (folded if possible) and we’ll make sure they are put to good use:

• Park Slope: 256 13th Street
• Carroll Gardens: 71 3rd Place
• Cobble Hill: 359 Henry Street
• Kensington: 3 Avenue C



Lander for NYC
456 5th Avenue
Third Floor
Suite 2
Brooklyn, NY 11215
United States
[email protected]

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