By Corey W. McDonald | The Jersey Journal

Grocery store patrons may soon see a big difference in these two Hudson County cities in the coming months.

An ordinance up for approval on June 17 by the Bayonne City Council would ban most single-use plastic bags and straws throughout the city. Meanwhile, Jersey City, which approved its own ban in June 2018, is set prohibit the use of single-use plastic throughout the city on June 28.

If Bayonne approves its ordinance, it would join Hoboken, and dozens of other municipalities in the state including Belmar, Point Pleasant and Teaneck by banning all retail locations from providing single-use plastic bags to customers.

The Bayonne council is expected to vote on the ordinance June 19.

“Our administration supports a cleaner community. This proposed ordinance is an important step towards achieving that goal,” Mayor Jimmy Davis said.

Like Jersey City, Bayonne’s ordinance includes some exceptions: plastic for loose produce; newspaper bags; dry-cleaning bags; bags to wrap frozen food, meat or fish; and bags intended for use as garbage, pet, or yard waste will be permitted.

All food service establishments, with the exceptions food trucks and mobile food courts, would be affected by the ban.

Bayonne’s ban would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2020.

Last year state legislators passed a bill that would force customers to pay 5 cents for each plastic bag, but it was vetoed by Gov. Phil Murphy, who said the bill did not go far enough.

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