Southampton Village Merchants React to Plastic Bag Ban Plan

Some store owners in Southampton Village this week got behind the spirit of the , but they also foresaw some problems.

If the village board passes the ban after a public hearing April 14, grocery stores and retail shops would be given six months to exhaust their supply of plastic bags and switch to using only bags made of 100 percent recycled paper. The proposal came from the village’s “green” committee, Southampton Advocates for the Village Environment, which is encouraging consumers to bring reusable bags to stores.

 “It’s gonna cost me more money; there’s no doubt about it,” said Dennis Schmidt, the owner of on North Sea Road.

He said Friday that he gets the point of the proposal and thinks it is a good idea for the environment, but it will be costly too. While he could not recall how much his business pays per plastic bag, he said he knows they are cheaper than paper. Full-size paper grocery bags with handles and his store logo printed on them cost 21 cents each, he said.

Telling customers they cannot have plastic bags will be tough, Schmidt predicted. “When the summer people come out, forget it,” he said. “They ask us for extra bags all the time.”

“It’s not that people are bad or wrong,” he went on to say. “It’s just that’s what people are used to.” He said Americans are accustomed to having bags provided, unlike in European countries where shops expect customers to have their own bags.

It’s about the mindset, Schmidt said. “We have to change the game a little bit.”

He has made efforts before, such as switching to plastic containers made from recycled water bottles, for use at the salad bar. The containers were cheaper, but not quite the same, he said — a different size and harder to close.  “All I heard was complaints,” he recalled, though he said he wants to give the containers another try this summer. “People just get set in their ways.”

“Personally, I don’t have any problem with it,” Harold Wilson, the owner of on Main Street, said of the ban as he was about to leave his store Wednesday to take his dog, Geri, for a walk on the beach.

He said he expected to pick up about half a dozen plastic bags on that trip, as he does each of the three or four times a week he visits the beach. “They hang in the fence, they hang in the grass,” he said. And it’s not just bags, but all sorts of plastic garbage, he added. He takes it upon himself to pick it up because he is concerned with birds and other animals getting to the plastic, plus, “It looks like hell,” he said.

But Wilson did see drawbacks to the plan. He pointed out that he sells heavy reams of paper, which paper bags just cannot hold, and if it rains he will not be able to offer plastic bags to protect ink cartridges and electronics.

“It’s gonna be a drag for some of the customers,” he said. But he still supports the ban despite the issues it poses. “Big deal,” he said. “We’ll live with it.”

Employees at on Main Street said customers have become more conscious of the environment, and they see about three a day who bring their own bags.

Catena’s sells canvas bags with the store logo for $15, to be used as grocery bags or beach bags. Co-owner Vince Finalborgo said he prefers canvas bags because they don’t rip like plastic bags can.

Finalborgo spoke of the ban favorably, but he also saw issues arising when it rains and all the store can offer is paper bags.

Schmidt’s sells reusable bags as well. Generic bags are $1.99 and bags with the Schmidt’s logo are $4.99.

grocery stores sell reusable bags for 99 cents, pointed out Eric Andrus, a spokesman for A&P Stores, Waldbaum’s parent company.

“We encourage folks to bring their own bags,” he said. “We have both plastic and paper bags and we offer two cents for each reusable bag a customer brings.”

Andrus said A&P Stores will not take a stance on the ban, either way, but will follow it if put in place. “In general, we abide by whatever local ordinance is in effect,” he said.

Waldbaum’s takes back used plastic bags to be recycled. At the Southampton store, a plastic bag bin is located at register seven.

“Clearly, we’re doing a lot in our stores to be environmentally sensitive,” Andrus said.