Suffolk County Recorded Steep Drop in Plastic Bag Use

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The recent report on the progress of plastic bag-fee law states that single-use plastic bag use has seen drastic decline in Suffolk County in 2018. It must be noted that the County had imposed 5 cents fee on single-use plastic and paper bags effective 1^st January, 2018 at checkouts of supermarkets, pharmacies, clothing stores and other retail establishments. The report was presented during a news conference held at the Hauppauge legislature building.

According to the report, the use of plastic bags has registered a decline by 1.1 billion during the previous year, as compared with 2017 when the fee was not in place. The utilization of single-use plastic bags dropped sharply by 81.7%, whereas the utilization of single-use paper bags was down by 78.8% when compared with 2017 levels. In addition, the study report also cites notable decline in the number of bags found polluting shorelines. Cleanup volunteers found 42% reduction in plastic bags between 2017 and 2018, the report said.

The report cites three ways in which the legislation positively influenced public behavior. Firstly, more people started bringing reusable bags to stores. Secondly, more people have stopped using any bag at all. Also, amongst bag users, the number of people using plastic bags has declined considerably.

The number of people using reusable bags has multiplied from 5% in 2017 to 26% in 2018. The number of people using plastic bag has dropped from 71% to 28% over the year.