New York's plastic bag ban is back.

The Department of Environmental Protection filed a letter with the state Supreme Court that will require stores across the state to stop handing out plastic bags beginning October 19.

Although it went into effect on March 1, state regulators held off on enforcing the ban for the past few months.

A lawsuit was almost immediately filed by plastic bag manufacturers and convenience store owners, who said that eliminating plastic would be a huge blow to their businesses. Last month, the state Supreme Court upheld the bag ban, though struck down an exception that thicker plastic bags were allowed.

At the same time, COVID-19 started to sweep through the state, prompting the Department of Environmental Conservation to halt enforcement of the plastic bag ban for the time being.