Free Shopping Bags Have Already Cost the Poor Too Much

Ask the Whole Foods worker to double-bag your groceries in New York City and that’ll add an extra dime to your bill now, thanks to a new five-cent bag fee passed by New York City Council Thursday. You might think that this will suck for the average low-wage resident. However, providing unlimited free bags for purchased goods has been harmful for the health and environmental protection of poor communities of color, say proponents of the new fee.

The New York City Environmental Justice Alliance (NYCEJA), a coalition of organizations focused on strengthening low-income communities, came out in strong support of the bag fee, even as many city council members said the fee would hit poor customers’ pocketbooks the hardest. The bag fee bill passed with one of the most narrow margins of victory in the city council’s recent history, 28-20, according to The New York Times, due to entrenched opposition along class lines. Simcha Felder, a New York state senator and former city council member who fought against the fee, told The Times that it is “nothing less than a tax on the poor and the middle class—the most disadvantaged people.”