By Megan Quinn Waste Dive

New Jersey’s recycled content bill, S2515, is on its way to Gov. Phil Murphy’s desk after passing the state’s Assembly and Senate Jan. 10. 

Starting in 2024, rigid plastic containers will need to contain at least 10% postconsumer recycled content, and plastic beverage containers will need to contain at least 15%. These rates will rise incrementally over the years and cap at 50% by 2036 and 2050, respectively, according to the bill.

The bill also establishes a 35% standard for recycled content in glass bottles; a 20% standard for plastic carryout bags; a standard of between 20% and 40% for paper carryout bags, depending on size; as well as a range of standards for plastic trash bags based on thickness. Polystyrene packing peanuts will be banned in 2024.  Washington is another state that recently banned this packaging.

If signed, supporters say the law will be the most ambitious recycled content law in the Northeast and could serve as a model for neighboring states aiming to boost the local recycling economy. Yet some plastic industry advocates and manufacturers say the bill places too high a burden on their business and sets goals that may be too high compared with market supply.

The bill has received attention during numerous hearings and revisions since it was first introduced in 2020, the year the legislature passed a law to ban or limit some single-use items, like plastic and paper carryout bags and polystyrene foam foodservice products. Both supporters and critics of the recycled content bill see its passage as a significant shift in how the recycling system in New Jersey and the broader region will need to operate to better prioritize recycled material in the coming years. 

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Recyclers already had to adjust to the market changes when China stopped accepting most recycled material imports in 2018, and they need further help to foster a better domestic recycling system in 2022 and beyond, said Doug O’Malley, director of Environment New Jersey, which supports the bill.

“New Jersey recyclers are not unique. Recycling as an industry is in crisis, and we need to look at recycling close to home and create markets for it,” he said.  “No more business as usual — now it’s about increasing recycled content over the course of this decade.” 

In a joint statement after the bill’s passage, Assembly members Annette Quijano, Mila Jasey, and John McKeon, the bill’s sponsors, said the measure will “allow us to be at the forefront of a transitioning recycling industry” by stimulating demand for recycled materials while also reducing pollution such as marine litter and microplastics. State Sens. Bob Smith and Linda Greenstein also sponsored the bill. 

Other supporters include the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, which called the measure “a sustainable program with quantifiable metrics and realistic goals.”

“This will help increase stakeholder commitment throughout the supply chain to ensure plastics are responsibly manufactured, collected, and recycled into new products,” it said in a statement.

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