Even with almost seven bills waiting to be passed, advocates in New Jersey are pressing for the ban of plastic bags or to put a fee on these grocery totes. Supermarkets have already started joining the environmental movement towards an eco-friendly future by providing shoppers with seed paper bags or wholesale reusable bags.
Be it paper bags or reusable bags, some states charge you a few extra pennies for them so that a sense of responsibility is instilled into the minds of the residents. The debate between paper and plastic still continues to go in the state of New Jersey as city official try to figure out which one is beneficial for the environment.
The big battle
Clean ocean advocates and the environmental groups are pushing the state’s lawmakers to either impose a fee on these single-use plastic bags or to completely ban them. It is shaping up to be quite a big battle tat will be resolved in the fall legislative session.
Plastic bags started clogging the storm water drains and basins, causing the decline of the Barnegat Bay, which sparked the entire battle because of rising levels of pollution.New Jersey is generating so much of plastic waste that tends to clog the waterways and cause problems to the entire city. Apart from this, plastic is the biggest source of debris in ocean bodies and it poses to be a huge risk to sea birds and other marine life.
Wholesale reusable bags and other paper totes: Best alternative
Residents and advocates are sure that either the bag ban or putting a consumer fee will surely work and help with reducing the usage of plastic bags. A significant example is of Washington D.C and how imposing a five-cent fee on plastic bag usage brought down the utilization of these bags by almost 60%. Apart from reducing the litter in the state, lethal impact on sea-life and wildlife will also be reduced.
Plastic associations argue that using paper bags will only double the carbon footprint of the state, which is why the environmental advocates are suggesting usage of recyclable and reusable totes. Eco-friendly supporters are also arguing that along with imposing a ban, the state legislature must ramp up the educative effort on recycling and reusing.
The entire battle about plastic vs. paper is quite tough in New Jersey as it can create a huge economic impact. Almost a thousand people are employed in the plastic manufacturing facilities, making the entire issue a sensitive matter.
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