New York’s Thick Plastic Bag Demands Vex Efforts to Reduce Waste

Plastic bag makers warn they can’t make products that meet the requirements of New York’s plan to eliminate single-use plastic bags.

New York, joining California, aims to ban most single-use plastic bags under a measure that takes effect March 1, 2020. But the state’s first crack at implementing it has drawn the ire of the environmentalists and one of the law’s sponsors, who say the Department of Environmental Conservation’s proposed rules have too many loopholes even as plastics makers say they can’t meet the state’s demands.

Several states have eyed plastic bag restrictions as one way to curb ...