I’m actually amazed by the amount kvetching about the plastic bag ban. Many posters in this thread are missing the bigger picture. I’m highly skeptical that people in Manhattan will be adversely affected even 10% of what some of you predict.
1. I live in Manhattan. Many grocery stores in Manhattan have paper option.
2. The onus of providing an alternative to soft plastic bags will fall on the retailer. They want to keep customers coming back so they will find an alternative.
3. This will not affect tourism or tourism purchases. Many tourists will do their shopping at the higher end stores. The higher end stores do not provide cheep plastic bags, they provide branded bags so everyone know the tourist just went to a high end store.
4. Plastic bags are not good for the environment. I’ve seen posts saying how only China is affected by plastic pollution. If you go to any river in the USA, you will see plastic waste in it. It might not be clogging up the river, but it is there.
5. Plastic pollution is horrible for the world and it has ripple effects that are potentially very dangerous. Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean that it isn’t dangerous. You can’t physically see the flu, but it can still kill you.
6. Everyone with the hate of Liberals needs to stop. There are legitimate things you can complain about but this is something that they are not doing to target any group of people. Reducing pollution is something that Jews should support. Hashem gave us this beautiful planet and we should do our part to maintain it. Expand your horizons beyond the NY/NJ bubble and think about how pollution affects other people