Council Looks To Stop Paper Bag Fees at Larger Grocery Stores

By Adam Swift

One city councillor wants to put a stop on large retailers charging a fee for paper bags.

Ward 6 Councillor Richard Serino is looking to amend the city’s ordinance banning plastic bags so that “stores that are twenty thousand square feet or larger shall not charge a fee to patrons for a recyclable paper bag alternative.”

The proposed amendment will go before the council’s legislative affairs subcommittee before coming back to the full council for a vote. Serino is also asking the city solicitor to look into the legality of the proposed change.

I filed this change to the plastic bag ordinance because since we instituted the ban on plastic bags at grocery stores, one certain grocery store in the city, a large corporation, is charging customers 10 cents per bag,” said Serino.

While Serino did not name the grocery store, in May, Stop & Shop announced it would be eliminating all plastic bags in its Northeast stores and charging a 10 cent fee per paper bag.

In a statement in May, a Stop & Shop spokesperson said the changes are part of an effort to minimize waste and encourage customers to shop with reusable bags.

“Reusable bags are available for purchase at all Stop & Shop stores at various price points, as low as 10-cents per reusable bag,” the statement read. “Stop & Shop also offers reusable bags for sale where $1 from every purchase goes to a local non-profit.”

However, Serino noted that the paper bags are often poor quality and easily break.

“They have always had free paper bags for as long as they have been in operation,” said Serino. “I wanted to change this so that larger grocery chains cannot charge 10 cents, or any fee, for a paper bag.”

Councillor-at-Large Anthony Zambuto said he supported the proposed ordinance change.

“I’m very disappointed that one of the major chains would stoop to this level and we have to change the ordinance to correct their greed,” said Zambuto.