Legislature Tries to Pass Bad Plastic Bag Bill to Block Bans

The Assembly Budget Committee and Senate Budget Committee both released A3267 (Vainieri Huttle)/S2600 (Ruiz) which establishes fee on single-use carryout bags used in certain stores and dedicates fee revenue to “Healthy Schools and Community Lead Abatement Fund.” The bill imposes a 5-cent fee on single-use carry out bags. The Sierra Club believes that this method to deal with plastic bags might actually make the problem worse. Not only should there be a full ban on plastic bags, but this bill undermines the ability of local municipalities to create stricter bag regulations and bans. Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, released the following statement:

“The Legislature is deliberately pushing through this weak and ineffective bill to block towns in the state from having plastic bag bans. They’re usurping efforts by municipalities like Jersey City and Hoboken to implement higher fees or create complete bans. This bill caters to the supermarkert lobby who want to make money off the fees while people continue to use plastic bags. We should be focusing on implementing a full state-wide ban on plastic bags. Instead, this bill caters to the supermarkets who want to make money off a plastic bag fee. This won’t accomplish what it sets out to do but will make the situation worse. This is a shameful and damaging bill that will mean more plastic bags, more damage to the environment, and more money for supermarkets.

“Plastic is a serious public health and environmental risk and we should be taking the strongest efforts possible to get rid of it. When plastic breaks down into micro-pieces, animals like fish and birds ingest them and can enter our food chain. This is a huge human health risk because there are toxins in the plastic. The whale found with 17lbs of plastic in Thailand shows that this issue is getting worse. Animals, especially birds, get strangled and suffocated by plastic bags. It can take up to 1,000 years for plastic to decompose and end up in our in our landfills or break down into micro-pieces that contaminate ecosystems and environments. Plastic bags have been known to clog storm drains and fill up detention basins which affects our water quality. Plastic bags are not economically efficient, it often costs more to transport the bags than they are worth.

“Not only will this legislation not reduce our plastic bag usage, but it will add money to the pockets of supermarkets and the budget instead. We use four billion plastic bags in New Jersey and this bill will not reduce those numbers. Right now, supermarkets pay a penny a bag for the bags they give out. Under this bill, they make a penny a bag, giving an incentive to use more plastic bags. This bill that would impose a 5-cent fee on plastic bags but the money can be raided for other funds. Fee proposals do not have a sunset provision, which means the fee can be forever. Studies show that plastic bag fees don’t actually reduce plastic bag usage. Supermarkets must pay for plastic bags but under a fee proposal, they get to charge customers for using plastic bags and get a cash windfall. We support the goal of this bill to reduce plastic bag waste but the legislation itself will be detrimental to the cause and should be rejected.

“The other problem with this bill is the preemption which blocks or bans towns with stronger ordinances on bans. Towns like Borough of Longport and Point Pleasant Beach have already passed ordinances to ban plastic bags. Towns doing it on their own is good, but it’s not enough. Towns will be challenged in court by industry and supermarkets. That is why the state needs to step up and ban single-use plastics. Towns are also working to ban plastic straws, but it is not enough, we need a statewide ban on plastic straws. Municipalities should be allowed to pass stronger bans that further reduce plastic pollution. Instead of this bill that undermines those efforts, we should pass a full statewide ban.

“The problem we have with fees is that instead of going to its funded purposes, they get hijacked. For example, the monies that were set aside to clean up abandoned landfills or the fees on tires to cleanup up tire piles are being diverted. Even the fees to pay for recycling education were robbed. If we put a fee on plastic bags, all we would be doing is giving the Legislature a pot of money to rob. This is also happening to the Clean Energy Fund which has been raided by $1.5 billion and $140 million just this year. The fees will not go to the good purposes its intended to go to.

“If we really want to reduce our plastic use, we need our Legislature and our Governor to support and pass a statewide ban on single-use plastics. In the meantime, we need to support legislation like Assemblyman Mckeon’s bill, A4040, that would phase out non-compostable plastic carry-out bags three years after enactment. We also need to support Senator Singleton’s bill, S1486, that would prohibit the sale of expanded polystyrene food containers by public schools and public institutions of higher education and Senator O’Scanlon’s bill, S2468, that would prohibit intentional release of balloons inflated with lighter-than air gases.

“Plastic has become a bigger and bigger problem that affects our environment. It’s not just in the Pacific, its also here in New Jersey. Rutgers scientists recently found densities of about 28,000 to more than 3 million plastic particles per square kilometer in the Passaic and Raritan River. Last year, beach sweeps in New Jersey have found that more than 80% of their trash is plastic. What is even worse is that there has been a 59% increase in plastic straws found on beaches from these sweeps. That’s why it is so important that waterfront cities like Jersey City are taking a step forward towards banning certain plastics. It will help reduce plastic pollution in our environment and recycling programs are not effective alone.

“The Legislature is thinking about plugging budget holes rather than reducing plastic waste in New Jersey. We need a statewide ban on single use plastics so we can reduce the use of plastics in environment, especially plastic bags and plastic straws. We also need Governor Murphy to come up with a better recycling program. Plastic bags are made from natural gas which means more fossil fuel use, more pipelines, and more fracking. Every year we seem to be recycling less but there is more trash along our roadways and in our streams. Since we have become a use once and throwaway society New Jersey needs to start looking into ways to combat this plastic pollution and improve our recycling programs.”