Plastic Bags Recycling Plan Wins Some Big Endorsements
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The City Council’s proposed plastic bags recycling program is getting a boost from big business and a political bigwig, with superstore Whole Foods and a niece of the president, Lauren Bush, getting behind the plan.
“I am here to support this legislation,” Ms. Bush told reporters at a Lower East Side Whole Foods. “It’s a bipartisan issue and I think it’s important that us individuals do what we can to help the environment.”
Ms. Bush’s FEED program sells reusable bags and uses the money to feed schoolchildren.
Speaker Christine Quinn thanked Ms. Bush for her support, saying it had come as a surprise. “You usually don’t get a call from Lauren Bush in the speaker’s office,” Ms. Quinn said.
A Whole Foods regional president, Christina Minardi, said businesses “must assume their share of responsibility” in protecting the environment. According to Ms. Minardi, Whole Foods already recycles plastic bags and even pays customers 10 cents for each returned bag, which adds up to hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
A lobbyist for the Neighborhood Retail Alliance, Richard Lipsky, has a different view of the plan. He said large businesses like Whole Foods “can afford to spread goodwill,” and are not representative of small businesses that he says would lose revenue complying with the recycling program.