Will NJ ban grocery plastic bags, tax them, or do nothing?


One piece of legislation would phase out plastic bags entirely, while another would charge consumers a nickel — with the money going toward lead abatement

plastic bags

Tom Johnson reports for
NJ Spotlight:
California did it four years ago. Hawaii has a de facto ban. And last month, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo called for a statewide ban on single-use plastic bags by next year.
Will New Jersey follow suit? At least one legislator thinks it should. Assemblyman John McKeon, an environmental advocate from Essex County, introduced a bill (A-4040) last week proposing a ban to phase out noncombustible plastic carry-out bags three years after enactment.
It is no small problem. Each year, Americans use 380 billion plastic bags, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Last year, in a beach cleanup by Clean Ocean Action, more than 80 percent of the haul was some kind of plastic. Some towns along the Jersey Shore are already banning plastic bags or imposing fees on their use.
“The ecological damage being done by the bags that we all use just bares the irresponsibility of all of us,’’ McKeon said of the source of litter that fills landfills, despoils waterways, and threatens marine life.
The idea of a ban is backed by many environmentalists, but so far only two states have prohibited the use of plastic bags — although several major cities have adopted bans, including San Francisco, Seattle, and Boston. McKeon’s latest bill is an updated version of a measure that has been kicking around the Legislature for years.
In New Jersey, the debate over an outright ban on plastic bags may come down to whether a better approach might be to impose a 5-cent fee on single-use carry out bags as proposed by a bill (A-3267) sponsored by Assemblywoman Valerie Huttle (D-Bergen).
That bill is backed by the New Jersey Food Council, which views it as a sound approach to dealing with the issue, according to Linda Doherty, its president.


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Your Recycling Gets Recycled, Right? Maybe, or Maybe Not

Plastics and papers from dozens of American cities and towns are being dumped in landfills after China stopped recycling most “foreign garbage.”

Bales of recyclable material pile up in Seattle as China’s ban on U.S. exports takes hold.  .CreditWiqan Ang for The New York Times
Livia Albeck-Ripka reports for The New York Times:
Oregon is serious about recycling. Its residents are accustomed to dutifully separating milk cartons, yogurt containers, cereal boxes and kombucha bottles from their trash to divert them from the landfill. But this year, because of a far-reaching rule change in China, some of the recyclables are ending up in the local dump anyway.
In recent months, in fact, thousands of tons of material left curbside for recycling in dozens of American cities and towns — including several in Oregon — have gone to landfills.
In the past, the municipalities would have shipped much of their used paper, plastics and other scrap materials to China for processing. But as part of a broad antipollution campaign, China announced last summer that it no longer wanted to import “foreign garbage.” Since Jan. 1 it has banned imports of various types of plastic and paper, and tightened standards for materials it does accept.
While some waste managers already send their recyclable materials to be processed domestically, or are shipping more to other countries, others have been unable to find a substitute for the Chinese market. “All of a sudden, material being collected on the street doesn’t have a place to go,” said Pete Keller, vice president of recycling and sustainability at Republic Services, one of the largest waste managers in the country.
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Jersey shore town declares war on enviro-damaging plastic

Vendors in Monmouth Beach will be barred from providing plastic straws, like these collected on a borough beach, as well as plastic bags and plastic or styrofoam containers, effective June 1.

Vendors in Monmouth Beach will be barred from providing plastic straws, like these collected on a borough beach, as well as plastic bags and plastic or styrofoam containers, effective June 1. (Monmouth Beach Environmental Commission)

Steve Strunsky reports for NJ.com:

In a sweeping measure to address a growing environmental threat along the Jersey shore, Monmouth Beach officials voted unanimously Tuesday to ban single-use plastic bags, straws and food containers, as well as take-out Styrofoam boxes.

“This is right for the Jersey Shore and all towns,” said Mayor Sue Howard, who as one of three members of the borough’s board of commissioners voted to adopt the ban at a meeting Tuesday night. “Living on the shore you’re sensitive to the environment. Not only do we care about where we live, we want to protect that (broader) environment for our children for the future.”
The ban prohibits local restaurants, grocers and other vendors from using plastic or Styrofoam for carry-out, take-out or doggie-bag containers, or from providing plastic straws. The ordinance, which was introduced last month and takes effect June 1, includes fines of up to $2,400, though Howard said warnings would be issued for initial violations. 
Non-biodegradable plastic products have been washing up on beaches in New Jersey and throughout the world at what environmentalists say is an alarmingly increasing rate, indicating that more and more bags, bottles, straws and fragments are making their way into the ocean via storm drains, inland water ways, dumping or other avenues.

Plastic is the most common form of beach litter and debris found during annual spring and fall beach sweeps by the non-profit group Clean Ocean Action, which reported a 58.75-percent increase in plastic straws found on New Jersey beaches in 2017, an increase consistent with global figures.



Rather then sinking to the ocean floor, floating plastic or Styrofoam debris can choke, strangle or otherwise incapacitate sea creatures who ingest or become ensnared in them.   
Several municipalities along the Jersey shore have approved or are considering curbs on the use of disposable plastic items, and New Jersey is one of several states weighing a plastic ban.
What stands out about the Monmouth Beach measure, borough officials and environmentalists say, is that it prohibits bags, straws and containers, whether they are made or Styrofoam, rather than any one of those items or materials alone. 
“No one was doing all three,” said Howard, who has been mayor for 13 years in the officially non-partisan borough, home to about 3,200 residents over 3 square miles on Monmouth County’s northern Atlantic coast. “We just though its time to do it all.”
Clean Ocean Action’s executive director, Cindy Zipf, who was among several environmentalists present for Tuesday night’s vote, said Monmouth Beach could serve as a model for other communities. 


“Hopefully, this is just the beginning,” Zipf said.


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NJ heading toward tougher chemicals-in-water rule. Could it embarrass the USEPA into adopting similar standards?

If DEP adopts nation’s strictest proposal regarding PFOS, regulators could require public water systems and private well owners to limit amount of chemical in drinking water to 13 ppt

chemicals in beakers

Jon Hurdle reports for NJ Spotlight:
Scientists are recommending that New Jersey adopt the nation’s strictest limit on a toxic chemical that was once used for nonstick cookware and flame-resistant fabrics and is now linked with certain cancers, high cholesterol, and immune-system problems.
The Drinking Water Quality Institute, which advises the Department of Environmental Protection, formally said on Friday that New Jersey’s drinking water should have no more than 13 parts per trillion (ppt) of the chemical PFOS, a part of the perflurochemical family (PFCs), also known as PFAS, in order to protect public health.
If adopted by the DEP, the proposal would become a “maximum contaminant limit” (MCL), which would allow regulators to require public water systems and private well owners to keep their water below that level.
PFOS is the third type of PFC to be evaluated by the DWQI since 2014. The panel has also recommended strict limits on PFNA, which was accepted by the DEP, and PFOA, which the DEP has not yet adopted more than a year after the recommendation was made.

Higher levels in New Jersey

The chemicals have been found in New Jersey more often and in higher concentrations than in many other states. EPA tests from 2013-2015 found PFOS in 3.4 percent of New Jersey public water systems, almost twice the national rate of 1.9 percent. In other tests from 2006-2016, PFOS was found in more than half of 76 public systems.
While the PFOS proposal was in line with the DWQI’s draft report on the chemical late last year, it refocused attention on New Jersey as a national leader in the regulation of PFCs during the same week that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency called a summit to discuss possible national regulation of the chemicals. The summit was attended by New Jersey officials, including acting DEP Commissioner Catherine McCabe.

The recommended legal limit for PFOS in New Jersey is much stricter than a health-advisory level issued by the EPA, which recommends — but does not require — a level of 70 ppt for PFOS and PFOA individually or combined. 


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Watch out, Gov. Murphy, you’re about to get kneecapped

Star-Ledger Columnist Tom Moran writes:


After a killer career in the private sector, Gov. Phil Murphy is about to get an education in the frustrations of governing.


He’s had a good run, so far. In four months, he’s checked off several big items from the liberal wish list. Equal pay for women. Automatic voter registration. Funding for Planned Parenthood. A return to sanity on climate change. And a robust fight against President Trump on everything, from sanctuary cities and guns, to taxes and water pollution


“We will reclaim the progressive soul of this state,” Murphy said in March.


I sat with the governor for an hour on Monday and came away with two main thoughts.


One is that he’s a likeable guy, sincere and smart — a bit nerdy, perhaps, but bursting with genuine passion to build a more just economy, one strong enough to bring everyone aboard. I root for him to succeed.


But I’m not betting on it. Which brings us to my second thought: I have a sinking feeling that we’ve already seen the best of the Murphy Era. This could get ugly fast.


Because all signs say the Legislature is going to murder his budget next month by refusing to raise the sales tax, leaving him a whopping $581 million short. Legislative leaders say that in public, and they emphasize it in private. And Murphy has built no reservoir of good will to fall back on.


They don’t like him. They don’t fear him. And they are convinced he’s mistaken about the state’s progressive soul — at least when it comes to raising taxes.


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New Jersey, Meet your 3 new state lawmakers

NJ State House
Democrats Linda Carter, Lisa Swain, and Chris Tully were sworn in at the Statehouse in Trenton on Thursday as the newest members of the state Assembly, the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature.
Carter, a Union County freeholder, replaces the late Jerry Green, who died at age 79 last month.
Swain, the former mayor of Fair Lawn, and Tully, the former council president in Bergenfield, will be district mates.
They replace Joseph Lagana, who moved up to the state Senate last month when state Sen. Robert Gordon resigned to join the state Board of Public Utilities, and Tim Eustace, who resigned last month to take a job outside of state government.

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