We Welcome NYC and Minneapolis to the Bag Ban Movement!

Latest Developments in the Bag Ban Movement Across the United States Welcomes NYC and Minneapolis

We are slightly obsessed with the bag ban movement. As you can tell from our bag ban map, which for us is a labor of love, we get seriously excited when any city or county passes a ban. Everybody gets on board. In fact, our VP from one of our other companies sent me an email the other day about a bag ban just to keep me up to date. With that in mind, you can imagine our collective joy when a couple of major cities passed single-use plastic bag laws recently. We are thrilled to add these pins to our map and we want to share their stories with you.

Disposable Bag Fee Passes in the Big Apple

If you follow the bag ban movement you have likely heard about the struggle to implement a ban in New York City. There has been an ongoing discussion, and the scope changed as time passed. There was talk of an outright ban, and later that changed to a fee. All along the way there were setbacks and achievements, and all of the hard work paid off when on May 5, 2016, the City Council voted 28-20 to pass a bag fee. Under the measure, grocery stores will charge up to 5 cents for each single-use plastic or paper bag handed out. The fee is slated to go into action on October 1, 2016.

Minneapolis’ Bag Ban to Start in 2017

When officials in suburban St. Louis Park threw around the idea of a single-use plastic bag ban officials in Minneapolis thought it sounded like a good idea. Unfortunately, the matter was ultimately tabled in St. Louis Park, but back in April, the Minneapolis suburb voted 10-3 to ban disposable plastic bags. The law also calls for a 5-cent fee on paper bags, but retailers will have the option to cover the fee themselves or pass it along to their customers. The bag ban will be effective on June 1, 2017.

Why Bother with a Ban?

The objective behind the measures in both New York City and Minneapolis is to reduce plastic trash by changing consumer behavior. Plastic bags are made from nonrenewable resources, so once they’re gone that’s it. To further compound this misuse of resources, only a small percentage of the plastic bags created are recycled. Most end up in landfills or as litter. Discarded plastic litter can be a major problem because it can pose a health risk to animals and their habitat. Removing disposable plastic bags in favor of more durable, reusable shopping bags is the best solution because it eliminates the resulting plastic problems.

Get On Board The Bag Ban Train

If you want to learn more about the disposable plastic bag ban movement, we encourage you to check out our map. It is always exciting to share the good news when a bag ban or bag fee measure is passed, but it is also important to track the bans that do not pass. A lot can be learned from the proposals that do not go on to become laws.

If you want to get your business on board the bag ban train, please contact us or fill out a product quote request and we will get started designing your brand’s custom reusable bag for marketing…and for the planet.