For Immediate Release
Contact: Jeff Tittel, NJ Sierra Club, 609-558-9100
Governor Murphy has signed S864 (Smith) into law today. The new law prohibits the provision or sale of single-use plastic carryout bags, single-use paper carryout bags, and expanded polystyrene foam food service products. It also limits provision of single-use plastic straws and appropriates moneys from the Clean Communities Program Fund for public education. It will go into effect 18 months from today.
“This is a major win in our battle against plastic pollution. This is the most comprehensive and strongest plastic bill in the nation. This new law will protect New Jersey from plastic that not only hurts the environment but also endangers our wildlife and public health. It will go a long way in our battle against plastics. This new law will help reduce microplastics that are getting into our drinking water as well as help in our battle against fracking, since plastic bags are made from natural gas,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “We want to thank the Governor for signing this bill, which is the most comprehensive in the nation, and for vetoing the plastic fee bill two years ago. Fee bills don’t get the same plastic reductions, and it didn’t cover styrofoam or straws. Many groups supported the weaker bill, but the Sierra Club and a few others asked him to veto it. Now we have this comprehensive bill that makes us a national leader on stopping plastic pollution.”
The law prohibits the use of single-use plastic carryout bags and paper bags in stores and food service businesses, and would ban food service businesses from offering single-use plastic straws. It also bans the sale of polystyrene and would prohibit food service businesses from selling or providing food packaged in polystyrene containers.
“This is an important first step in stopping plastic pollution in New Jersey. The main purpose of this law is to ban plastic because it is a scourge on the environment. This statewide plastic ban will help protect our rivers and streams from plastic that has been known to kill whales, get into our environment, and into us. It was originally modeled after Lambertville’s ban that went after plastic bags and straws.” said Tittel. “This law is critical to protect our environment and ourselves from plastics. Microplastics have already been found near our drinking water supply, so we could literally be drinking plastic. Plastic bags clog storm drains and fill up detention basins, affecting our water quality. Animals, especially birds, get strangled and suffocated by plastic bags.”
This is the first bill in the country that bans paper bags in addition to single-use plastic bags. So far, nine states have banned single-use plastic bags, including California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, New York, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington. The territories of American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, US Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico have also banned disposable bags.
“This comprehensive plastic ban not only bans plastic bags, but also polystyrene and the offering of plastic straws. Polystyrene is dangerous to human health because it contains carcinogenic chemicals such as benzene and styrene, and it has been found in breast milk. Plastic straws pollute our oceans and beaches. Last year, New Jersey found that more than 80% of their trash is plastic and found an increase in plastic straw waste by 59%,” said Tittel. “By reducing how much plastic we use, we can also reduce fracking and fossil fuel use. Plastics are made from natural gas, which means more fossil fuel use, more pipelines, and more fracking.”
Plastics have become a bigger and bigger problem that affects our environment. Rutgers scientists found densities of about 28,000 to more than 3 million plastic particles per square kilometer in the Passaic and Raritan Rivers. Beach sweeps in New Jersey found that beaches from Monmouth County down to Cape May County have microplastics in the ocean and on the beach.
“This is an important day for New Jersey. Two years ago, there was a weak bill that only required a fee on plastics and didn’t deal with paper or styrofoam. We opposed this bill but many other environmental groups didn’t. After it passed, a small group of us got the governor to veto the bill because we need full ban. We wouldn’t have this victory today if that bill wasn’t vetoed. A plastic fee would have only had about a 60% drop followed by 3% increase each year as people start paying the fee, compared to a 94% drop from a ban,” said Jeff Tittel. “A lot of the groups that are cheering for this bill now originally only wanted a fee on plastics. They not only fought us but were angry at us because we had that weak bill vetoed.”
Bans on plastic have proven to be effective. For example, Los Angeles County saw a 94 percent reduction in single-use bags after implementing a ban. This included a 30 percent reduction in paper bag use with a 10-cent fee on other bags. In San Jose, they saw an 89 percent decrease of bags in storm drains, 60 percent fewer in creeks, and 59 percent fewer in streets.
“This is a big win when it comes to stopping plastic pollution and protecting our environment. People are fed up with plastic pollution filling up their storm drains and threatening their drinking water. We have been banning plastic in New Jersey town by town and city by city. With this statewide ban, we will now have one standard for the entire state. This makes it easier for everyone to follow and implement. It is important that we will now have a statewide ban on plastics to stop plastics getting into our environment and into us,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “We want to thank the Governor for signing this important legislation. Today is a big day in our battle to protect our environment and save people money.”