On March 1, New York state’s plastic bag ban takes effect.
Westport has had one since 2008.
Avi Kaner knows both places well. He served our town as 2nd Selectman and Board of Finance chair.
But it’s in his role as owner of New York City’s 16-store Morton Williams grocery store chain that he’s quoted in today’s New York Post.
Avi Kaner in a Bronx Morton Williams store. (Photo/Danny Ghitis for the New York Times)
The new state law allows retailers to charge 5 cents per paper bag. Morton Williams won’t do it.
They’d lose money, Kaner told the paper. Paper bags cost 13 cents each. Plastic bags are just 2.5 cents apiece.
Instead, his chain will stock up on the sturdy reusable bags that they already sell for 99 cents. They’ll also offer cotton and polyester bags for 15 to 20 cents — about what they cost.
But that wasn’t Kaner’s money quote.
Here’s what he told the Post about the difference between people in the town where he lives, and the city where he works:
“A lot of people don’t carry around reusable bags when they are commuting. It’s not like the suburbs where you have the bags in your car.”
(Click here for the full New York Post story. Hat tip: Peter Gold)
Avi Kaner with a different kind of environmental issue: plastic bottles. (Photo/Buck Ennis for Crain’s New York Business)