Single-use carry-out bag fee not on the ballot

By Linda Smith Hancharick
WARWICK — When Town of Warwick residents go to the polls on Tuesday, they will select county, state and federal representatives.
Missing from this general election ballot, though, is the proposed five cents fee on all carry-out bags within the town that was discussed earlier this year.
According to Supervisor Michael Sweeton, the town intended to put the issue up for voters to decide on Nov. 6. However, after the public hearings and the decision was made by the town board to leave it up to the voters, he was contacted by a representative from Sustainable Warwick to say they weren’t sure a referendum on this would be legal.
Sweeton talked to the town attorney who did some research.
“It turns out this is not a legitimate issue to do a referendum,” said Sweeton.
Instead, the town board, as a representative body, would have to make the decision whether to impose the fee on all paper and plastic carry-out bags, according to New York State.
But that isn’t going to happen.
After three nights of public hearings starting back in February, where dozens of residents voiced their opinion on the matter, the board said residents were pretty much split and decided to wait until November to let voters make the decision.
After the town attorney researched the issue, they learned in September that a referendum would not be appropriate. On Oct. 11, the town board rescinded the motion.
“The board feels this should be done on a county or state level,” said Sweeton, noting that Ulster County recently passed a law banning plastic bags countywide.
In April, Gov. Andrew Cuomo introduced a bill to ban plastic bags throughout the state beginning in 2019.
The heart of the matterOpinions were strong in Warwick on both sides during the public hearing earlier this year.
Supporters of the fee said it would encourage shoppers to bring their own reusable bags instead of contributing to the 11 million plastic bags used each year in the town, many of which end up as trash along roads.
Opponents said the fee would be a burden on those who could least afford to buy reusable bags or spend the money each time on single use bags. The bags are also reused, in many cases by senior citizens, for trash and cat litter.
Both supermarkets in town, ShopRite and Price Chopper, were on board with the proposed fee.
Representatives of Sustainable Warwick, who were very vocal in their support during the process, are now looking to the county to get moving on the initiative.
“We were disappointed,” said Geoff Howard, chairman of Sustainable Warwick. “We went to the initial meeting thinking ‘great, this is the end of the campaign, end of the battle.’”
That battle is about ending the barrage of plastic bag on the local environment. There are signs at key places throughout the town, including entering the parking lots of both supermarkets, as well as near the Warwick Farmers Market, to BYOBag. Sustainable Warwick is the group that has been educating people on the benefits of reusable bags and the issues caused by using the disposable plastic bags.
Howard noted that Warwick has been out in front on many key issues before and he had hoped it would follow through on this one as well.
“Warwick was way out in front when it came to fracking,” said Howard. “Warwick passed a law against it and then months later the state did it.”
Still, Howard remains optimistic and said he and others in the group will now move up to the county level and continue their advocacy.
Looking to the countyBarry Cheney, an Orange County legislator and Village of Warwick trustee, is chairman of the county’s Green Committee, a sub-committee of Physical Services Committee that looks at ways for the county government to be more green.
Cheney said that earlier this month, the Green Committee raised the idea of looking at whether it should consider banning plastic bags or placing a fee on them, just as Warwick was proposing.
“We discussed it a couple of months ago with the idea that we would be discussing it in the future,” said Cheney. “We have asked our Planning Department to give us facts and figures, who has done it and how successful it has been. We will talk about it.”
The next Green Committee meeting will be held on Nov. 26 at 2:15 p.m. at the county building in Goshen. Plastic bag use is on the agenda. The meeting is open to the public but will not take public content.
Expect to see Howard and others from Sustainable Warwick at the county meeting.
“If you can imagine, I see it like popcorn over the heat,” said Howard. “The kernels are starting to pop.”