Usually, while entering a supermarket, shoppers are given a choice between plastic or paper bags in order to carry their groceries back home. If you are carrying your own reusable grocery tote then it is considered to be an excellent environmental reform. Some of the US states have already started charging shoppers a few cents for the bags. In New Jersey this could take place if the pending bills in the Legislature and made in plastic prohibiting laws.
The big battle
The fall legislature session might just turn into a big battle as clean-ocean advocates and other environmental groups continue to push the lawmakers of the State to start banning single-use plastic bags and start charging consumers and shoppers a certain fee if they choose plastic bags.
During a hearing that was conducted this week, regarding the decline of the Barnegat Bay, this issue was raised. The environmental advocates present at the hearing listed plastic covers and bags as one of the main problems for rising pollution levels in the city, amongst other problems.
Wholesale reusable bags will reduce pollution levels
Clogging of the drains is a nightmare in the city as plastic bags make storm drains not function. Conservationists have argued that these plastics and bags are the biggest source of debris in oceanic bodies, doing harm to sea birds and marine life.
Instead, the best alternative is to use wholesale reusable bags and seed paper bags. Environmentalists are vouching for a ban or fee to be imposed as doing this in other states has seen significant drop in levels of plastic bag usage. For example, Washington D.C. imposed a five cent fee on single-use plastic covers and bags, which brought down the levels of usage to about sixty percent within a few weeks. Apart from reducing litter, it also avoids harming sea birds and wildlife.
It is found that paper totes have a huger carbon footprint than the plastic bags, which is why environmentalists suggest the use of reusable bags. They are any day more environmentally friendly than paper or plastic bags. Even paper bags that can be reused quite a few times and made out of organic materials can be used as well.
Even though the environmental groups and advocates are lobbying for imposition of either a fee or a ban, it will certainly have a huge impact on the economy of the state. Almost seven hundred people are employed in the plastic manufacturing units of New Jersey and the ban could cost them their livelihoods.
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