Recently, the Los Angeles Times commemorated the one-year anniversary of California’s plastic bag ban – the first in the U.S. – by reported that victuals still made it from market to table, that no food-borne plagues erupted because of reusable bags, and that nobody went broke paying 10 cents for paper or thick, reusable plastic bags if they chose not to…
Recently, the Los Angeles Times commemorated the one-year anniversary of California’s plastic bag ban – the first in the U.S. – by reported that victuals still made it from market to table, that no food-borne plagues erupted because of reusable bags, and that nobody went broke paying 10 cents for paper or thick, reusable plastic bags if they chose not to join the thrifty shoppers.
In the end, the only thing their state lost was 13 billion pieces of sheer plastic that clutter trees, clog storm drains, poison animals, and pollute waterways. That’s not a typo. Thirteen billion bags, one year.
It makes you ask why New Jersey hasn’t enacted a statewide effort to abolish this aerodynamic menace, since programs are already churning in blue-leaning Teaneck and red-leaning Long Beach Twp. during the tenure of a green-leaning governor.
The mini-boomlet of municipal plastic bag laws creates a momentum that should be fueled by these facts: We have a 4.5-billion-bag-a-year habit in New Jersey, fewer than 5 percent of these bags are recycled, and the only way to eradicate this scourge is by inducing shoppers to BYOB.
Two types of laws that can do that. One bans single-use plastic bags entirely, and adds a fee for all other carryout bags. This ban is aggressive, and it works for California. The other charges a small fee for the ubiquitous thin plastic bags, a model that has proven to influence consumer behavior more effectively while also dissuading the plastic industry from litigation.
Time to wean ourselves off plastic bags | Editorial
We like the bill sponsored by Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle, D-Bergen, which imposes a five-cent fee for a plastic bag (seniors are exempt), allows the store keep a penny, and uses four cents for litter abatement and lead abatement.
An outright ban is a hard sell politically: The plastic trade has enjoyed an unregulated market for decades, and doesn’t take kindly to bans. The grocery trade can also be truculent (thin plastic costs them 1-3 cents, paper is 8-10), but in Huttle’s case, “the Food and Water Council supports the bill,” she says.
Also, an outright ban on thin plastic means paper and thick plastic bags remain available for free because they are classified as “reusable,” and customers usually choose the next free option – leaving plastic in circulation and landfills growing.
Best idea ever: Tax plastic bags to pay for lead cleanup | Editorial
A fee changes the checkout dynamic: Where shoppers are asked if they want to “buy a bag,” consumption drops dramatically, and people dig out all those canvas and cotton bags piled up in the utility closet. In cities where fees are applied – from San Jose to D.C. – consumers have learned to bring those reusable bags to the car, pram, bike, or wheely cart.
The goal is cultural change. But as long as NY-NJ Baykeeper reports that there are 165 million plastic particles swimming around New York harbor at any given time, culture isn’t the only thing that needs a change around here.
Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.
