If all goes according to New York mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s plan, anyone who wants to use a plastic bag at a supermarket will have to pay 6 cents for each bag.

It’s all in an effort to help New York support green living practices and to follow European countries who have already banned plastic bag use.

Why the fee?

There are two main reasons why the major wants to impose a fee:

1. To educate consumers about going green and helping the environment.
2. To hopefully generate $16 million a year in revenue to use towards the city from the fee.

If all goes well, like it did in Ireland, plastic bag use will go down 94% or more and then almost everyone will own a reusable bag.

Here’s the whole story from the New York Times.

So what do you think of a plastic bag fee?

Personally, I use recycled cotton bags and they are great. They definitely reduce plastic waste, and I even get a 5 cent credit on my grocery bill for each bag I use.