New York City residents send 5.2 billion plastic bags to landfills every year, according to a 2009 report by the Department of Sanitation. Though most of them are recyclable, they can't be included with the rest of the plastics put out for curbside recycling. In 2009, Mayor Bloomberg proposed a 5-cent fee on every plastic bag used by shoppers, but that died on the vine because City Council Speaker Christine Quinn opposed it. Now a state Assemblyman from Manhattan wants to up the ante to 25-cents a bag. more ›

Mayor Bloomberg's proposed 5-cent fee on every plastic bag used by shoppers would help reduce waste and raise an estimated $100 million to help the city's budget crisis, but it will probably never see the light of day now that City Council Speaker Christine Quinn opposes it. Quinn is also blocking a move to reimpose the city sales tax on clothing and shoes under $110, which would raise an estimated $394 million a year, and instead she wants to increase the city's sales tax from 4% to 4.5%. more ›

Will the plastic bag controversy ever end? With the recent news of Bloomberg pushing a plastic bag tax, The NY Times is the latest to take a look into the sordid grocery packaging habits of New Yorkers. Perhaps as some believe cigarettes should be, instead of a tax, they just need to be made illegal; even reusable grocery bag users are finding they accept a plastic bag here and there.

“I’d pick up 50 bags a week instead of 2 or 3 if I wasn’t conscious of it,” said Mr. Thrasher, 31, a freelance writer from Fort Greene, Brooklyn. “You’re always having a plastic bag put in your hand.”