New Jersey Considers Nation’s Strictest Ban on Single-Use Plastics, Other Materials

Joseph Myers

New Jersey has made commendable history since its 1787 admission into the Union, and the Garden State is seeking to generate even more headlines. Through a bill in the very early stages of consideration, New Jersey would enact the nation’s strictest ban on single-use plastics, with bags as the biggest would-be casualty.

Plastic bags have taken many lumps through various forms of legislation and advocacy, and New Jersey is seeking to land a few more blows to their reputation as items of convenience. Sources on the proposal note that the single-use goods, along with paper bags and Styrofoam, would mostly become relics of commerce in the state and would align New Jersey with eight other states that hold bans on plastic bags.

As the holiday season unfolds, advocates for and opponents of single-use plastics are bellowing “Humbug” at each other, with the former touting the uses of said bags and containers and the latter charging them as harmful to the environment. Companies have taken firm stances on the efficacy of the controversial products, and since other states have bagged the public’s reliance on them, it seemed only a matter of time before another location would look to make a bold move. As it stands, New Jersey’s would be the most comprehensive ban and could, including the restrictions on Styrofoam, come to serve as the national breaking point for consumers and businesses to ponder all of the issues regarding their very existence.

The ban could make for good news for the promotional products industry, since reusable bags would be the obvious alternative to the single-use plastics. That would lead to added opportunities for suppliers and distributors, but one wonders how the elimination of Styrofoam could play out, too. The rejection of Styrofoam is nothing new, as Maine and Maryland already enacted laws against it, but it would be interesting to see what promotional replacements there could be for the popular container material. The New Jersey bill “has a ways to go,” according to an account on its possible implementation, so it will be a matter to follow, especially since it does not include the banning of plastic straws, another pariah among ecological crusaders that has likewise captured our attention.

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