New Jersey legislators vote to ban single-use plastic bags

The New Jersey state Senate voted to ban single-use bags as well as Styrofoam and takeout containers across the state on March 5.

The new S864 bill prohibits the provision or sale of single-use plastic carryout bags, single-use paper carryout bags, polystyrene foam foodservice products as well as single-use plastic straws. It also would appropriate money from the state’s Clean Communities Program Fund for public education.

It would take effect 18 months after receiving the governor’s signature, and make straws available only upon request after one year. If the bill becomes law, New Jersey would become the first state to ban both plastic and paper carryout bags.

“The Legislature…finds that single-use paper carryout bags use as much or more energy and resources to manufacture and transport than single-use plastic carryout bags and contribute to harmful air emissions,” S864 said. “Consequently, the Legislature further determines that it is in the public interest to prohibit grocery stores from providing single-use paper carryout bags.”

But while S864 has passed in the New Jersey state Senate, it still needs the New Jersey state Assembly to pass its own version of the law and have Democrat governor Philip Murphy sign it before it’s enacted.