Supporters of the city's plastic bag bill say it's good for the environment, while detractors say it puts an undue burden on shoppers. But what about the companies that manufacture and distribute the bags? Lori Chung has that part of the story from East New York.
"Why? Why are they picking on plastic shopping bags?" asks Eli Amsel.
Bag distributor Amsel is asking that question after city leaders passed a law requiring stores to charge shoppers a 5-cent fee for single use bags. Lawmakers say they want to encourage people to stop using plastic, but that's exactly what Amsel is afraid of.
"My sales go down, my business goes down, we got no profits, we're done, we can't survive on air," Amsel said.
And, he says the dozen or so workers here at Lagmitz Paper and Plastic Company in East New York would be out of a job — blasting the City Council for ignoring the concerns of small businesses like his.
"How does a council member in a democratic society have the audacity, the chutzpah to go and say I want to irritate New Yorkers," Amsel said.
Referring to past comments by Councilman Brad Lander who co-sponsored the legislation aimed at encouraging New Yorkers to opt for reusable bags instead of plastic, relieving some of the burden on the environment. When contacted for this story Lander responded by saying:
"We need to move to re-usable bags as part of our ambitious and necessary effort to dramatically reduce solid waste, and to pass a healthy planet on to our kids."
"We have offered on multiple occasions to connect Mr. Amsel to the NYC Economic Development Corporation to discuss how his business can shift to distributing more sustainable products, but he has declined our help," Lander continued.
Amsel says he has no faith in the EDC to help sustain a business it took him 34 years to build. One he believes is among many being penalized for problems with the environment.
"The people should be fined if they litter don't blame the distributor and the manufacturer because are not reasonable and throw it into the ocean, they the ones who should be blamed," Amsel said.
There's now a bill proposed at the state level that if passed would block the city's new bag fee law, but as it stands now that fee goes into effect in October.