NJ plastic bag ban: Measuring the impact after one year

On the evening of May 3, 2022, supermarket clerks, restaurant staff and retailers across New Jersey put away their plastic carryout bags for good as one of the nation's most stringent and wide-ranging laws banning plastic products went into effect the next day.

Now one year into the ban, Gov. Phil Murphy's administration, environmentalists and other proponents of the measure are celebrating it as a successful litter reduction tactic, while bag manufacturers and conservative commentators continue to lament the change.

Meanwhile, the measure has become ingrained in the day-to-day comings and goings of the average New Jerseyan trudging to the store, reusable bag in hand.

The New Jersey Clean Communities Council estimates that the ban is on target to eliminate more than 8 billion plastic bags each year that 2,000 grocery stores had been giving out annually.

With 9.2 million New Jersey residents, that amounts to about 75 plastic bags per person per month — a very high number that on the surface seems as though it would be far more than what the average shopper takes home from their supermarket runs in a month. Take away babies, young children, the infirmed, and others who don't shop and that number grows even more per person.

But Jonathan Jaffe, a spokesman for the council, said the number reflects shoppers double bagging groceries, taking additional bags for home use or using them for meat and other products at the store.

More info:Everything you need to know about NJ's ban on plastic bags

The law appears to have made a dent in plastic litter.

Beach cleanups from Cape May to Sandy Hook last year run by the environmental group Clean Ocean Action showed a decrease from 2021 to 2022, with 37% fewer plastic bags, 39% fewer plastic straws, and 37% less foam waste.

Opinion:Don't let NJ consumers, businesses hold the bag as Legislature tinkers with sustainability

Clean Communities Council Chairwoman Linda Doherty called the results "astonishing."

"We no longer see billions of single-use bags littering our waterways, parking lots and waste streams," said Doherty, who is also CEO of the NJ Food Council — a powerful lobbying group on behalf of supermarkets whose support for the bag law was key to its passage.

A group representing plastic bag manufacturers has argued that the most common substitute for flimsy plastic bags — reusable plastic bags with stitched handles — are less environmentally-friendly, saying they use more plastic and cannot be recycled. "Given all that, it's not clear current policy is actually advancing sustainability in New Jersey," said Zachary Taylor, director of the American Recyclable Plastic Bag Alliance.

The law is considered one of the nation's most strict set of restrictions on everyday disposable plastic products.

In addition to bags, it also banned polystyrene cups, plates, takeout cartons and other food containers made of the material often called Styrofoam. Paper bags were also banned at large supermarkets and big box stores. The council estimates that 164 million paper bags have been eliminated per year.

But while almost every supermarket, large restaurant and chain retailers adhered to the new law, plenty of smaller, mom-and-pop businesses across New Jersey continue to give out plastic bags with every purchase. County and local health inspectors are expected to be the primary enforcers of the ban.

Repeat offenses carry fines of up to $5,000, but through much of 2022 none was issued. During the second and third quarters of the year, almost 900 inspections occurred resulting in 129 warnings, according to a state report released last week.