New Jersey Considering Ban on Plastic Bags

Keeping with the theme of local governments enacting environmental legislation, two New Jersey state Assemblymen (Herb Conaway, D-Burlington and Jack Conners, D-Camden) have co-sponsored a bill that would phase out the use of plastic bags in stores larger than 10,000 square feet over three years.

According to NorthJersey.com, plastic bags, which were introduced in 1977, account for 90 percent of the bags used in stores. An estimated 100 billion of them are used in the United States each year -- about 332 per person. Only about 4 percent are recycled, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

The bags are considered an environmental menace because they aren't biodegradable. Although many are reused to line trash cans, collect animal droppings or in other ways, they also end up in landfills, flapping in trees and in the ocean, where hundreds of thousands of whales, turtles and fish die each year after eating plastic.

Cities and countries around the world are grappling with what to do about plastic shopping bags... San Francisco became the first U.S. city to ban plastic bags. Similar bans have been considered in Annapolis, Md., Baltimore and Philadelphia. In Maine, a legislator wants to charge a 20-cent fee on plastic bags. A measure that passed last week in Suffolk County, N.Y., promotes reusable totes.

Rwanda, Zanzibar and Paris have banned plastic shopping bags. Bangladesh outlawed the bags -- anyone caught with one faces a $2,000 fine -- after they got stuck in storm drains and caused havoc during monsoons. Ireland imposed a 15-cent tax on bags five years ago, reducing their use by 90 percent. Measures in Australia, meanwhile, have resulted in a 34 percent drop in plastic bag use in the past three years -- a savings of 2 billion bags.

"...hundreds of thousands of whales, turtles and fish die each year after eating plastic..." I checked this statistic and found another site that estimated the total at tens of thousands, including birds. I'm sure no one knows the exact figure.

Regardless, this is a huge problem that we can all do something about. Get some reusable bags and use them as often as you can. It's easy! And it gets easier the more you do it. When I first started trying to reuse bags, I met with a lot of resistance from sales clerks. That has changed a lot in the last year and they are very understanding nowadays. Reisenthal makes a bag that can be stowed in a little pouch for easy transport when you aren't using it. They make great gifts! Even if you don't remember to bring a bag with you every time you go to the store, it would make a huge difference if we all cut back on plastic bag use even a little.

For those extra bags you do end up with, find out if you can recycle them in your area. If you live in Brooklyn, plastic bags are collected for recycling at the Park Slope Food Co-op (see schedule) several times a month, in addition to other plastics.

Ironically, when I purchased my Reisenthal bag, the sales clerk tried to put it in a plastic bag. I stopped him in time, but I don't think he understood why I was so amused.