PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Enforcement of Philadelphia’s plastic bag ban went into effect on Friday. Customers and businesses in the city are dealing with the law in their own way.
Catherine is the cashier at Jean’s Cafe in Center City. She says getting rid of plastic bags has been an adjustment for her business.
“Some stuff you have to put in a bigger bag, and the paper bag is expensive. We have to charge to the customer,” she said.
But Tyler Tindall, bar manager at Aki Nom Nom says offering his customers paper bags instead of plastic ones hasn’t been a huge change — “but, I mean, it's a business cost. Everything's a business cost.”
He says sometimes people still ask for plastic.
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The new law’s nine-month roll-out plan began in July with signs posted in businesses explaining the law. The ban on single-use plastic bags, and paper bags that are made from less than 40% recycled material, actually went into effect in October of last year. Still lenient, the city issued warnings instead of penalties to stores that were behind the times.
"It’s really important to allow these businesses the time to get it right, and we have to get the mindset of not only businesses but consumers," said Philadelphia City Councilmember Mark Squilla, sponsor of the bill, at the time.
Now, starting April 1, businesses will be fined for violating the ban.
Larissa Breedy is service manager at Chipotle also tells me making the switch away from plastic has not been a huge adjustment. And, she adds, she’s personally happy about the plastic bag ban.
“Before you’d see tumbleweeds of plastic bags rolling around,” Breedy said. “Now you don't see any, and I feel like it's amazing. It's just so much better for the environment and everything.”
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Tindall says his restaurant just stopped using plastic bags, and now they’re trying to figure out what to do with their surplus.
“We have boxes of plastic packs. We're not going to use them, but we don't want to throw them away,” he said.
But does getting rid of plastic bags inconvenience customers? Philly resident Brooke Stakias says no — she’s okay with the bag ban as well.
“I've always had a reusable bag with me,” Stakias said. “I don't know why more people aren't doing it, actually. I have a 2-year-old, so I always have some type of bag with me.”
In that six-month limbo between October and April, customers would never know if a retailer would provide a single-use bag. Now, it will be much more clear for everyone.
For Stakias and the rest of Philadelphia, it will just become part of the routine of leaving the house — wallet, keys, phone … reusable bag.