NJ’s Bag Ban Needs to Be Improved for Grocery Pickup & Delivery
Nancy Holt
As COVID continues to impact the Garden State, grocery pickup/delivery remains an important option for New Jerseyans that want to limit their time shopping indoors. The newly-enacted plastic bag ban has left customers of large grocery retailers with less-than desirable options. To address this issue, New Jersey should pause this portion of the rule, set a 6-month period to study the challenge and then propose updates to the legislation based on the findings.
The Get Past Plastic law came into effect in New Jersey on May 4, 2022. With regard to pickup/delivery, grocery stores equal to or larger than 2,500 square feet may only provide or sell reusable carryout bags. They cannot offer paper bags. Some affected retailers are making use of these options, while other have decided to go bag-less altogether. The best of intentions can lead to undesirable outcomes with the current situation running the gamut from environmentally ineffective and inequitable to simply impractical.
In terms of adverse economic impacts, pickup/delivery has been popular among seniors during the pandemic, a group that often lives on a fixed income. Charging people generally between $.30 and $1.50 per reusable bag can accumulate over time — conservatively adding around $125/year to grocery costs. Rising food costs due to inflation, as well as rising gas prices/fuel delivery surcharges further amplify the struggles many New Jerseyans are facing.
On the environmental side, attempting to reduce plastic waste from single-use bags is a desirable goal, especially since they’ve proven difficult to efficiently collect and recycle. However, having a net positive environmental impact depends on carefully analyzing the costs and benefits of the law’s impact. In terms of waste reduction, going bag-less makes the most sense, but it also presents a number of real-world logistical challenges for retailers and consumers.
In the case of reusable bags, the benefits depend significantly on how frequently a given bag is reused. If the reusable bags simply wind up piling up in people’s homes at a level beyond what they can reasonably use and there is no easy way to recycle or donate them, they are likely to end up in a landfill. In this case, single-use bags are actually the most environmentally-friendly option.
Evaluating alternatives like substituting paper, compostable or biodegradable bags for pickup/delivery require more detailed consideration and would benefit from further analysis based on the situation in NJ. By its own admission, the NJ Legislature never considered the ban’s consequences in this case. According to State Senator Bob Smith, “In all the hearings we had on the bag issue in both houses (of the state Legislature), it never came up … That’s the honest answer.” The pandemic only reinforced the need for such analysis, with pickup/delivery now standard options at almost all of the state’s large grocery stores.
By providing requirements to study this issue before determining a path forward, both customers and retailers will benefit. For example, it would allow for time to explore pilot programs underway in other places where consumers borrow clean reusable bags with a deposit fee. If returned in a designated time period, that fee is fully refunded. It could also allow the state to plan for the future by increasing centralized composting infrastructure that breaks down bags derived from organic materials in an environmentally friendly way when they have worn too thin to carry items.
State Senator Kristin Corrado has introduced a proposal that would exempt grocery delivery and pickup from the Get Past Plastic Law. In the near term, such an option offers an immediate reprieve to those who rely on pickup/delivery services and are struggling financially. However, it would not address the bigger issue. In the long term, we must make sure that we don’t make the same mistake twice by taking action without a well thought-through plan.
NJ’s plastic bag ban, the strictest currently in the nation, fundamentally has the right idea in mind. However, it needs more consideration to make it workable in our current reality. Pausing for a moment to do the supporting research would not only collectively benefit New Jerseyans, but also set an example for how other states can productively work toward their own plastic reduction goals.
Nancy Holt works on policy issues through an effort she leads called Science for New York (On Twitter: @Sci4NY). She holds a PhD in Physical Chemistry and resides in NJ.
