New York could face paper bag shortage lasting up to 5 years (report) - syracuse.com

New York’s upcoming plastic bag ban could cause a shortage of paper bags that might last up to five years, according to the New York Post.

"It's a major issue," said Phil Rozenski, a spokesman for Novolex, a major bag manufacturer in North America, according to the Post. "It's so large that there are outages in the Midwest in trying to get supply to retailers."

Once the ban takes effect next month, any entity required to collect state sales taxes won't be allowed to give out single-use plastic bags at checkout. Although many retailers have been encouraging customers to switch to reusable bags and the ban does include a number of exemptions, some industry experts say there are simply not enough paper bags to go around, according to the Post.

Novolex estimates New York will require about 4 billion bags once the plastic ban begins. That's 52 percent of all current production capacity in North America, the Post said.

The company says the state could have a shortfall of about 3 billion bags lasting up to five years, until new factories are built, according to the Post. Paper bags are currently produced at 16 sites in Canada and North America.

"The New York law needs four or five factories that don't exist today," Rozenski said, according to the Post.

Environmental advocates had been pushing for a mandatory statewide fee on paper bags as part of the plastic ban, the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle said. The idea was to push as many consumers as possible toward reusable bags.

The ban includes an option allowing cities and counties to charge a mandatory 5-cent fee for paper bags, but only Tompkins, Albany, Suffolk and Ulster counties, plus New York City, have moved to do so, according to the D&C. Some stores, such as Wegmans, Tops and Price Chopper, have said they’ll charge a 5-cent fee for paper regardless.

Without a mandatory paper fee, activists are concerned the litter problems caused by plastic will simply be replaced by paper. Experts have also noted that plastic bags actually result in fewer greenhouse gas emissions over their lifetime than paper bags, which makes them the better option as far as climate change is concerned, according to the D&C.

Paper bags are also more expensive. They cost stores about seven times more than plastic, said Jim Calvin, president of the state Association of Convenience Stores, according to the D&C.

Calvin and his group opposed the bag ban last year and pushed instead for a charge on both paper and plastic bags, the D&C said.

"We think that would have sharply reduced plastic bag consumption without eliminating the convenience of a plastic bag for those who need one," he said, according to the paper.

The plastic bag ban goes into effect statewide on March 1.

More on New York’s plastic bag ban

Dog poop, tiny trash cans, more: Questions answered on NY’s plastic bag ban

You’ll soon pay for paper bags at Tops, Wegmans, more as NY plastic bag ban nears

New York plastic bag ban start date, who’s affected, bags you can still get

NY plastic bag ban nears: How to clean your reusable bags so they don’t get gross

NY says Wegmans, others must allow old plastic bags in stores for reuse

Advocates worry regulations could let single-use plastic bags survive NY ban

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New York could face paper bag shortage lasting up to 5 years (report) - syracuse.com
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