Nearly two years after New Jersey banned single-use plastic bags in grocery stores, people still don’t agree if it was a good idea.
State Sen. Bob Smith (D-Middlesex), who sponsored the bill banning single-use plastic bags, said results have been “phenomenal.” Smith said the state should continue pursuing legislation to ban plastic.
“If we would take you to the nearest hospital and had your blood tested, what do you think is going to be in your blood? Plastic particles,” he said. “I have a feeling that in a decade or so, plastics are going to be viewed just like tobacco.”
Smith didn’t dispute data from a recent study, commissioned by the American Recyclable Plastic Bag Alliance, which found that New Jersey’s plastic consumption has tripled since the single-use plastic ban. The proliferation of reusable plastic may not have led to more pollution, but there have been higher greenhouse gas emissions to create the bags.
“We saw it coming,” said Matt Seaholm, president and CEO of the Plastics Industry Association. “We actually told the authors of the bill years ago that this is exactly what was going to happen.” Seaholm agreed that pollution from plastic bags is an issue, but blamed it on people who litter and don’t recycle. He said that outright bans on single-use plastic aren’t the right approach and can lead to additional problems.
