Billionaire grocer and former mayoral candidate John Catsimatidis virtually never disagrees with guests of his radio show. But on Sunday he challenged Crain’s endorsement of the disposable-bag fee passed by the City Council and signed by Mayor Bill de Blasio last year.
The Gristedes magnate said he didn’t want to charge little old ladies a nickel if they failed to bring a bag with them to his stores, and insisted plastic bags are recycled. Later in the 7-minute segment with Crain’s assistant managing editor Erik Engquist, Catsimatidis asked how newspaper publishers would feel they had to tack a nickel onto their issue price.
We shall address these issues one at a time.
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As Engquist noted on the Sunday morning radio show, the idea of the city’s fee is that it will nudge shoppers to bring bags to the store and that it will become second nature to do so, just as they bring a wallet or purse. Shoppers in other cities with bag fees have made this adjustment. Even shoppers who routinely forget to bring bags would probably not end up paying more than $1 or $2 a month. The fee is a reminder, not anything that would put a noticeable dent in a household budget.
Some plastic bags are recycled, thanks to a city law that requires supermarkets of 5,000 square feet or larger to have a bin where shoppers can return bags. But the vast majority of city retailers do not have such bins, and in those that do, only a small fraction of the bags it gives away are brought back; that’s why the city still trucks 10 billion bags a year to landfills. Moreover, recycling generates carbon emissions, unlike reusing a bag.
Catsimatidis’ analogy about newspapers doesn’t apply to those such as Crain’s that are not free—the fact that plastic bags are free in New York City stores is what makes them so ubiquitous. Adding a nickel to the cover price of $3 business publication (or even a $1 tabloid) would not change shoppers’ behavior.
The analogy would apply to free papers, such as amNY. But there are fundamental differences between newspapers and plastic bags. Paper decomposes much more rapidly, is not as carbon-intensive and tends not to get stuck in trees, sewage-treatment plants, recycling machinery and fish gills.
Engquist closed the interview by noting the effect of another law designed to change behavior: the seat-belt mandate imposed on car manufacturers and later drivers and front-seat passengers. Critics initially complained that it would increase the cost of vehicles, but using seat belts has since become second nature to most Americans and has saved a huge amount of money and as well as pain, suffering and lives by protecting people in crashes.
Billionaire grocer and former mayoral candidate John Catsimatidis virtually never disagrees with guests of his radio show. But on Sunday he challenged Crain’s endorsement of the disposable-bag fee passed by the City Council and signed by Mayor Bill de Blasio last year.
The Gristedes magnate said he didn’t want to charge little old ladies a nickel if they failed to bring a bag with them to his stores, and insisted plastic bags are recycled. Later in the 7-minute segment with Crain’s assistant managing editor Erik Engquist, Catsimatidis asked how newspaper publishers would feel they had to tack a nickel onto their issue price.
We shall address these issues one at a time.
As Engquist noted on the Sunday morning radio show, the idea of the city’s fee is that it will nudge shoppers to bring bags to the store and that it will become second nature to do so, just as they bring a wallet or purse. Shoppers in other cities with bag fees have made this adjustment. Even shoppers who routinely forget to bring bags would probably not end up paying more than $1 or $2 a month. The fee is a reminder, not anything that would put a noticeable dent in a household budget.
Some plastic bags are recycled, thanks to a city law that requires supermarkets of 5,000 square feet or larger to have a bin where shoppers can return bags. But the vast majority of city retailers do not have such bins, and in those that do, only a small fraction of the bags it gives away are brought back; that’s why the city still trucks 10 billion bags a year to landfills. Moreover, recycling generates carbon emissions, unlike reusing a bag.
Catsimatidis’ analogy about newspapers doesn’t apply to those such as Crain’s that are not free—the fact that plastic bags are free in New York City stores is what makes them so ubiquitous. Adding a nickel to the cover price of $3 business publication (or even a $1 tabloid) would not change shoppers’ behavior.
The analogy would apply to free papers, such as amNY. But there are fundamental differences between newspapers and plastic bags. Paper decomposes much more rapidly, is not as carbon-intensive and tends not to get stuck in trees, sewage-treatment plants, recycling machinery and fish gills.
Engquist closed the interview by noting the effect of another law designed to change behavior: the seat-belt mandate imposed on car manufacturers and later drivers and front-seat passengers. Critics initially complained that it would increase the cost of vehicles, but using seat belts has since become second nature to most Americans and has saved a huge amount of money and as well as pain, suffering and lives by protecting people in crashes.
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