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| NJ State Senator Bob Smith (center) encourages colleagues to support a ban on plastic bags, |
By Frank Brill, EnviroPolitics Editor
A month ago, New Jersey’s environmental community was split over legislation that sought to wean shoppers off single-use, plastic, grocery-store bags by charging a 5-cent fee per bag.
Bill supporters hoped the fee would convince consumers to opt for reusable, heavy-duty plastic or cloth bags that many stores offer for $1.
Environmentalists who preferred legislation banning the sale of single-use bags said their more dramatic approach was needed to respond faster and more effectively to plastics’ growing environmental threat.
The goal of both the fee and ban camps was to reduce the disposal of plastic bags that litter neighborhoods, show up on state beaches, in highway drains, streams, and in the ocean, too, where they are ingested by fish and contaminate the food chain.
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When a fee bill landed on Gov. Phi Murphy’s desk in June, he was lobbied by environmentalists on both sides. Those favoring the fee approach believed that half a loaf was better than none. They recognized that the fee bill had passed the Legislature in part because the influential grocery store lobby (New Jersey Food Council) had dropped its long-standing opposition to a bag fee in return for a guarantee that the legislation would prohibit, town-by-town fees or bans.
Murphy eventually vetoed the fee bill and signaled that a more comprehensive approach was needed. By default, that meant that he would entertain legislation banning the bags.
Proponents of a bag fee had feared that an outright ban might lose the grocers’ support and trigger wider opposition from the business community. They were right.
At a three-hour committee meeting Thursday in Trenton, members of the Senate Environment and Energy Committee were besieged with arguments against–and for–an outright sales ban on plastic bags. The sponsor of that approach, committee chairman Bob Smith, had posted his bill, S-2776, which not only would ban single-use plastic bags but also the sale of plastic straws and Styrofoam.
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Smith said an aggressive approach was necessary to curb additional environmental damage. He cited statistics from recent studies that found an alarming increase in plastic products and plastic microbodies in the Passaic and Raritan rivers, as well as plastics counted during the annual Beach Sweeps conducted by Clean Ocean Action.
He called on his legislative colleagues to respond to this “serious environmental and public health crisis.”
A small sample of the testimony
Mark Daniels of Novolex, however, told committee members that S2776 could jeopardize a $70 million investment that his company is contemplating for their plastics and paper factories in Elizabeth and Logan Township.
What’s next?
The bill was released on a 4-1 vote with Kip Bateman providing the one Republican vote necessary. It now goes to the Senate Budget Committee which is not as green-leaning as Smith’s. In casting the get-out-of committee vote, Bateman (perhaps anticipating an eventual party-line decision) said he might go the other way if the measure gets to the Senate floor.
One thing is sure. Senator Smith will have to make changes in order to lighten the collective weight of the bill’s current opponents. That’s common for bills as ambitious as this.
You can expect to see a lot of events at which bill supporters will work to increase public awareness. Opponents will work behind the scenes, reminding lawmakers of the state’s troublesome business climate.
Where they line up on S2776:
Support
Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions
Association of New Jersey Recyclers
Environment New Jersey
Clean Ocean Action
Clean Water Action
Food and Water Watch
Humane Society of the United States
New Jersey Environmental Lobby
New Jersey League of Conservation Voters
New Jersey Audubon
Raritan Headwaters
Rutgers University
Sierra Club
Opposed
Alliance Center for Independence
Americans for Tax Reform
American Progressive Bag Alliance
Asian American Retailers Association
Chemistry Council of New Jersey
Commerce and Industry Association of New Jersey
Dart Container Corporation
National Federation of Independent Businesses
New Jersey Gasoline, Convenience Store Association
New Jersey Retail Merchants Association
Novolex
Seeking Amendments
New Jersey Business and Industry Association
New Jersey Farm Bureau
New Jersey Food Council
New Jersey Restaurant and Hospitality Association
New Jersey State Chamber of Commerce
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