ENGLEWOOD, New Jersey In an effort to save the environment, New Jersey outlawed the use of plastic bags nearly two years ago.
Is it hurting or helpful, though?
A fresh report with startling new data is broken down by CBS fresh York.
Nicole Brown, of Bergenfield, recently made what she describes as a typical trip to the Englewood Shop Rite, where she purchased groceries and carried them in six brand-new, reusable plastic bags.
Brown stated, “Most of the time, you have to buy them.”
She acknowledges that she has roughly thirty bags just sitting around the house.
It irritates me. I’m over them. “My home is overflowing with bags,” Brown remarked.
She is not alone in forgetting to bring them; forgetting to bring them is the fault.
“I have a bunch, like too many,” Dumont resident Laura Aponte remarked.
“It’s probably fifty or more,” Englewood resident Kim Grevler said. “A mechanism that allows us to retrieve them and play a game of “choose a penny, take a penny” is necessary. You know, like, you leave your luggage and customers steal them.”
Food buyers may be using more plastic in the Garden State since they frequently forget their bags and have to buy new ones. According to a recent study by market research firm Freedonia Custom Research, the prohibition on plastic bags may be doing more harm than good for the environment. Reusable bag usage by eateries and online food delivery services is also a problem.
According to the report, the overall change causes a nearly 300% rise in plastic consumption. Considering that reusable bags are said to be composed of 15 times more plastic by experts.
Furthermore, despite the worrisome nature of the new report, some local officials believe there may be some issues with it.
The new law is effective, according to Democratic state senator Bob Smith, who supported the legislation outlawing single-use plastic bags.
It’s been said that reusable bags produce more plastic than they discard, and during the first or second year, that is true. This is understandable. Smith remarked, “You’re replacing every single-use bag.”
Smith stated that the American Recyclable Plastic Bag Alliance provided funding for the study.
“Bans may be simple laws to write, but they don’t make for good policy,” stated the president and CEO of the Plastic Industry Association.
In response to a question about his confidence in the report, Environment New Jersey head Doug O’Malley stated, “This study is not worth the paper it’s written on because we can’t look at the full methodology.”
5.5 billion single-use plastic bags have been eliminated, according to O’Malley.
“That’s about 600 fewer plastic bags per resident of the state of New Jersey as a result of state legislation. For New Jersey, this is unquestionably a success,” O’Malley stated.
He continued, saying that the state would benefit more if consumers would just remember to actually bring them.
According to the survey, the average grocery store earns roughly $200,000 from the sale of reusable bags.
