New Jersey Senate votes to ban single-use plastic, paper bags

NJ Senate passes bill banning single-use plastic bags

The bill was approved 22-14 by the NJ Senate.

TRENTON - New Jersey is again looking to change the way customers take home food and beverages.

The state Senate on Thursday voted to ban single-use plastic and paper bags along with foam containers. The bill would not ban plastic straws.

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Customers would have to request them. Businesses that violate the ban would face a warning for a first offense, a fine of up to $1,000 for a second offense and a $5,000 fine for subsequent offenses.

The measure failed to advance in the last legislative session and the Assembly was working on its own version.

NJ Senate to vote on bill banning single-use plastic

The bill would also ban single-use paper or foam.

Senate bill 864 cites research that has shown the detrimental effects of single-use plastics on waterways and oceans since plastic is known to do biodegrade in nature.

“The Legislature further finds that approximately eight million 28 tons of plastic end up in the oceans annually; that, without action, scientists estimate that by 2050 the mass of plastic pollution in the ocean will exceed the mass of fish,” officials wrote in their proposed bill.

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