Billions of plastic bags kept out of circulation by NJ ban
Joanna Gagis, Senior Correspondent | November 18, 2022 | Business, Energy & Environment
Six months after the ban went into effect, environmentalists deem it a success
It’s been six months since New Jersey’s bag ban went into place, forbidding single-use plastic bags at stores as well as paper bags at large grocery stores. You may still forget to bring a reusable bag to the store and maybe you have a pile of reusable bags stacked up in the closet. Those minor inconveniences aside, the bag ban is already having a positive impact on New Jersey’s environment.
According to the Food Council of New Jersey, 3.4 billion plastic bags have been kept out of the waste stream since the ban went into effect; and it says 68 million paper bags have not been used because of the ban. While there are potential tweaks to the law still to come, environmentalists say the bag ban is a success.