Is New Jersey’s Plastic Bag Ban Working? Studies Give Mixed Reviews

NEW JERSEY — It’s been nearly two years since New Jersey banned stores and supermarkets from handing out single-use plastic bags to their customers, and the debate over the ban’s effectiveness continues to rage – with a recently released study adding new fuel to the fire.

But here’s an important question to ask yourself as you crunch the numbers, some environmental advocates argue: Can you trust a scientific study paid for by the plastic industry?

Gov. Phil Murphy signed the ban into law in 2020. It became active in May 2022. Learn more about what is allowed – and what isn’t – on the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s website.

Advocates of the ban have said it is reducing pollution and litter, arguing that New Jersey isn’t the only state with a bag ban – and they're working all across the nation.

Critics have countered that plastic bag bans are a burden on businesses and their customers – and they aren’t nearly as effective as their supporters claim.

The naysayers include Freedonia Custom Research, which recently released a study that says New Jersey’s bag ban has been a big bust.

According to Freedonia researchers, since the state is now relying on heavier reusable bags — most of which are made of non-woven polypropylene — three times more plastic (by the pound) is being produced than before the ban. Researchers also said that greenhouse gas emissions from the production of those bags have skyrocketed by 500 percent compared to 2015 levels.

“On average, an alternative bag is reused only two to three times before being discarded, falling short of the recommended reuse rates necessary to mitigate the greenhouse gas emissions generated during production and address climate change,” the study says.

Read the full analysis and see its methodology here.

After the Freedonia study was released, critics of New Jersey’s ban leaped on it, citing it as proof that the controversial move has backfired.

“The data is in and it’s clear: NJ’s plastic bag ban actually increased our carbon footprint, with greenhouse gas emissions up 500 percent,” former governor candidate Jack Ciattarelli said on social media.

“Like everything else about Murphy‘s policies, what feels good doesn’t necessarily make sense/work,” he added.

NJ BAN IS 'HIGHLY EFFECTVE'

There’s just one problem, advocates say – the study was paid for by the plastic industry.

According to Litter Free NJ, the Freedonia report was commissioned by the American Recyclable Plastic Bag Alliance, which “represents the interests of U.S.-based manufacturers and recyclers of plastic bags.”

The study relied mostly on conducting interviews with “industry constituents” such as plastic bag suppliers, bag brokers and distributers, as well as grocery store retailers – not shoppers, Litter Free NJ argued.

Other studies have said that New Jersey’s plastic bag ban is indeed working.

In May 2023, the New Jersey Plastics Advisory Council – a state committee tasked with evaluating the ban – said it has been “highly effective.”

“There is little question that the law has been effective in reducing single-use bags,” the council said in their first-year report (read it in full here).

“From survey work conducted by the New Jersey Food Council, it can be extrapolated that approximately 5.5 billion single-use plastic bags and 110 million single-use paper bags were eliminated from entering the waste stream and environment by the supermarket sector alone from the effective date of the law on May 4, 2022 through the end of the year,” the report said.

The Jersey Shore is also looking cleaner thanks to the ban, the council said.

“Clean Ocean Action’s 2022 Beach Sweeps report compared data from 2021 to 2022 and showed a significant decrease in litter collected from items targeted by the Get Past Plastic Law, with 37.31 percent fewer single-use plastic bags … found along the Jersey Shore,” the report stated.

Another study published in January also argued that “plastic bag bans work.”

Based on data from the New Jersey Plastics Advisory Council and the U.S. Census Bureau, the state ban eliminates an estimated 5.51 billion single-use plastic bags per year – about 594 per person, researchers said.

That analysis was published by three nonprofit advocacy groups: Environment America Research & Policy Center, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund, and the Frontier Group.

Read the full study and see its methodology here.

“I’m glad New Jersey lawmakers have decided to ban this ubiquitous yet completely unnecessary product in many of the stores where we shop,” said JoAnn Gemenden, executive director at the New Jersey Clean Communities Council, another supporter of the state's bag ban.

“We are seeing real results,” Gemenden added.

• See Related: Most 'Recycled' Plastic In This NJ City Ends Up Being Burned: Report
• See Related: Regulate Manufacturers To Stop Plastic Pollution, NJ Lawmakers Say

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