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A plastic bag floating in the sky with an airplane far in the background. 
It’s Been Five Years Since New York Banned Single-Use Plastic Bags. They’re Still Floating Around.
The muse of American Beauty, Katy Perry and bathroom trash cans everywhere just won’t go away.
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By Danielle KayePhotographs and Video by Brian Karlsson
March 1, 2025
Since New York’s ban on the distribution of single-use plastic bags took effect five years ago, Francisco Marte, who owns five bodegas in the Bronx with his brothers, has been conflicted about how to transition away from their use.
At three of his stores, he has stopped handing out plastic bags altogether, charging customers a 25-cent fee for a reusable bag, which are more expensive for him to stock up on. But at the other two bodegas, in low-income neighborhoods, Mr. Marte hands out plastic bags to avoid passing on the cost of a more expensive reusable bag to residents. Still, he warns them that he’ll soon phase out plastic altogether.
Some customers have started to bring their own bags, he said, but it’s “little by little.”
New York State’s ban in 2020 was part of an effort to curb litter and minimize greenhouse emissions caused by plastic bag production. Mr. Marte, who is also president of the Bodega and Small Business Group in New York, said compliance with the ban had been mixed among the group’s more than 2,000 members, which include corner stores, restaurants, barber shops and beauty salons. Many business owners don’t want to charge their customers more by handing out the comparatively expensive reusable bags. Still, the number of plastic bags in circulation has “reduced a lot,” he said.
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When the ban was announced, state officials said New Yorkers used 23 billion plastic bags each year, 85 percent of which ended up in landfills, recycling machines, waterways and streets. While the state has not collected comprehensive data on how many fewer plastic bags have been used since the ban took effect, a study by the New York City Department of Sanitation found that the prevalence of plastic shopping bags in the waste stream fell 68 percent from 2017 to 2023.
The Bag Waste Reduction Act took effect on March 1, 2020 — exactly five years ago — though the coronavirus pandemic and a lawsuit from plastic bag manufacturers delayed its enforcement for months.
Retailers receive a warning before being slapped with a $250 fine if they violate the law again, and a $500 fine for every violation thereafter.
Despite the penalties, plastic bags are still a common sight on the streets of New York City. In part, that’s because the rule, as it’s currently written, includes several exceptions: Bags used to package bulk items, for example, as well as those provided by pharmacies to carry prescription drugs, are excluded. Restaurants are also exempt.
Below, a visual tour of all the places plastic bags still show up in the city.
ImageA person uses a pair of scissors to trim the top of a stack of plastic bags.
New York’s ban on the distribution of single-use plastic bags went into effect in 2020, but they are still regularly used, as is the case at a bodega in Soho, pictured.
Image
A man in a brown suit looks down into a white plastic bag that he’s holding. 
Plastic contraband in Times Square.
Image
A person in a brown coat walks down the sidewalk carrying a teal briefcase in one hand and a teal plastic bag in the other.
An extra briefcase in Jackson Heights.
Image
Two plastic bags are blown into the air in front of a cement wall. 
“It’s partly symbolic, but it also has had real world impacts,” said Eric A. Goldstein, a senior lawyer at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “If we can’t cut down on throwaway plastic bags, how will we ever tackle the bigger issues of reducing fossil fuel emissions?”
Image
A red plastic bag hangs on a branch in a tree.
New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation, the state agency tasked with enforcing the ban, has issued about 280 warning notices to businesses for violations, said John Salka, an agency spokesman.
Image
Two people sit in a hammock in a park, with a plastic bag hanging off one end of it.
Researchers and lawyers who have tracked the rollout of the ban point to lackluster enforcement as the key roadblock, allowing some big retailers to keep handing out single-use plastic bags to their customers.
Image
A man on a street corner holds two black plastic shopping bags while standing near two children, one on a bicycle.
Beyond Plastics, a movement that fights plastic pollution, has alerted the Department of Environmental Conservation to more than 100 violations of the law, including by large supermarkets that operate in New York City, said Judith Enck, the group’s president.
Image
A person wheeling a cart of laundry bags shield themselves from a plastic bag blowing in the wind.
A floating plastic bag got aggressive with a resident of Prospect Lefferts Gardens in Brooklyn.
Image
A plastic bag with coins in it sits on the floor, surrounded by papers and a sledge hammer.
Despite penalties for violating the ban, plastic bags are still a common sight in New York City. One is used in this picture as a coin holder, in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn.
Image
A clear plastic bag with water and small, live fish in it hangs from a branch in a tree.
“It has been largely effective,” Ms. Enck said, referring to the ban, “but New York Department of Environmental Conservation needs to step it up and start enforcing the law more effectively than they have been in New York City.” Here, a fisher in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, was using a plastic bag to hold his live bait.
Video

CreditCredit...
Image
A man in a white shirt walks by a row of white plastic bags hanging from a hook. 
Plastic bags hanging on a hook among coats, a hat and an umbrella in the West Village. There are several exceptions to the ban: Bags used to package bulk items, for example, as well as those provided by pharmacies to carry prescription drugs, are excluded.
Image
A young person sits on the bench of a restaurant dining table with a plastic bag on it.
A plastic bag seen in Jamaica, Queens. Restaurants are also exempted from the ban.
Image
An arm holds a white plastic bag while a large flock of pigeons flies off a telephone pole and its cables. 
In Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, a passer-by holding a plastic bag tries to shoo away pigeons.Credit...Brian Karlsson for The New York Times
Image
A plastic bag sits in a puddle of water on the side of a street with a wire fence beside it.
A bag floating in a puddle in Sunnyside, Queens. When the ban was announced in 2020, state officials said New Yorkers used 23 billion plastic bags each year, 85 percent of which ended up in landfills, recycling machines, waterways and streets.
Image
A statue with an outstretched hand holds a plastic bag with a yellow smiley face on it.
The classic New York plastic bag design in the wild.
Image
Two people, one holding a small child, standing at a crosswalk while another child is in a stroller next to them. A large paper shopping bag is on the child’s thighs and covering the child’s face.
Many retailers have switched to more environmentally friendly paper bags and have also passed on the cost to customers.
Image
A plastic bag, held up by a hammer, hangs on a fence with a city skyline in the background.
In Greenpoint, Brooklyn. A study by the New York City Department of Sanitation found that the prevalence of plastic shopping bags in the waste stream fell 68 percent from 2017 to 2023.
Image
Two people with umbrellas walk down a sidewalk at night, each carrying a plastic bag.
In Flatbush, Brooklyn, customers would rather have plastic than paper in the rain.
Danielle Kaye is a business reporter and a 2024 David Carr Fellow, a program for journalists early in their careers. More about Danielle Kaye
A version of this article appears in print on March 2, 2025, Section BU, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: Banned, Vilified, But Still Floating Around. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
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I Tried Using an App to Unlock Cabinets at Drugstores
42| Frances commented 11 hours ago
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