NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
New Jersey lawmakers are considering changing the state’s ban on stores distributing single-use plastic bags as residents accumulate large numbers of reusable bags — which are often used only once.
“I keep them in the basement,” New Jersey mom Katiuska Tejada-Rivera told NJ Advance Media. “I have another bag by the door in case I go to the farmers market. Most of them are brand new, even with the tags. I use them once but don’t throw them away.”
It’s an issue that’s been affecting shoppers across the state — whether they wholeheartedly supported the ban or not — since the law went into effect on May 4. Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy celebrated the signing of the 2020 ban as a way to address plastic pollution.
“Plastic bags are one of the most problematic forms of litter, leading to millions of discarded bags pouring into our landfills, rivers and oceans every year,” Murphy said at the time. “With today’s historic signing of the bill, we are tackling plastic pollution head-on with solutions that will help mitigate climate change and strengthen our environment for future generations.”
PLASTIC BAGS BAN IN NEW JERSEY: WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy speaks to reporters during a briefing in Trenton, New Jersey on Monday, February 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Seth Little, file)
Now, some shoppers are describing having stocks of reusable bags, prompting lawmakers to consider changing the ban.
“The only mistake we’ve had so far (during the ban) is the fact that home delivery of groceries has been interpreted as meaning you have to do it in a reusable bag and what’s happening is that the count is going up of those bags accumulates with customers,” Senator Bob Smith, co-sponsor of the plastic bag ban bill, told NJ Advance Media. “We know it’s a problem. We agree it’s a problem.”
Some solutions being circulated include: Requiring home grocery delivery to use boxes or paper bags.
DUE TO THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC, BANS ON PLASTIC BAGS HAVE BEEN STOPPED IN SEVERAL CITIES
“Help is on the way because we don’t want these reusable bags piling up in customers’ homes,” Smith said.
He added: “We will listen to any and all solutions that they have.”
A shopper carries plastic bags in the Manhattan borough of New York, March 1, 2020. (Portal/Jeenah Moon)
A grocery store manager in South Jersey, Chris Mentzer, operations manager at Rastelli Market Fresh, said he would like to see paper bags used for online orders.
“We’ve had customers come in with stacks of 30, 40 deep bags and say, ‘Here, can you reuse these, please?’ And we can’t,” Mentzer told ABC 6, noting the store can’t accept used bags for hygiene reasons.
THE BAN ON PLASTIC BAGS IN NEW YORK Frustrates many shoppers
Murphy’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the matter.
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection said in a statement to ABC 6 that it will work to find ways to encourage reuse of the reusable bags.
New Jersey governor-elect Phil Murphy speaks at his election night victory rally in Asbury Park, New Jersey November 7, 2017. A sign is up at a farmers market in Oceanside, New Jersey to buy reusable grocery bags for $1.00 to see dollars. California, October 30, 2014. (Portal/Dominick Reuter|Portal/Mike Blake)
CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP
“While curbside and delivery services have expanded significantly between the passage and implementation of the law, the Department intends to work with stakeholders and through the Plastics Advisory Board to find innovative ways that would encourage the reusability of these bags,” the Department said.