Why should you care about plastic pollution?
Plastic is connected to health, climate change and wildlife. Single-use plastics take an enormous amount of water and energy, and chemicals to produce and dispose, yet are only used for mere minutes and can persist in our environment for more than a millennium.
Plastics and Health
Exposure to chemicals from plastic production, usage and disposal can cause cancer, diabetes, reproductive disorders and neurological impairments. Thousands of toxics, carcinogenic or endocrine disrupting chemical additives are used during production, such as styrene and vinyl chloride.
Plastics and Climate Change
Plastic generates greenhouse gas emissions at every step of its life cycle, from extraction to waste. The United States plastics industry’s contribution to climate change is on track to exceed that of coal-fired power by 2030. As plastic breaks down in landfills through sunlight and heat, it releases powerful greenhouse gases such as methane that warm up the Earth’s atmosphere.
Plastics and Wildlife
Plastic pollution is an animal rights issue. Plastic does not decompose; it breaks up into smaller pieces called microplastics. It endangers more than 1,200 species from ingestion or entanglement: from seals with their necks slashed by fishing line, to turtles with straws stuck in their noses, to seabirds who starve to death with their bellies full of plastic. It’s in the food, water and air of all living creatures.
How is NJ reducing plastic pollution?
As of November 4, 2020, Governor Murphy signed into law the Plastic Pollution Reduction Act. On May 4, 2022, both plastic and paper single-use bags, as well as disposable food containers and cups made out of polystyrene foam, were banned, with some exemptions (bags wrapping raw meat, polystyrene butcher trays, produce bags, newspaper bags, dry cleaning bags, prescription bags and bags holding fish or insects from pet stores). Stores less than 2,500 square feet can still provide paper bags. This law also restricts food-service businesses from handing out plastic straws, unless specifically requested by a customer, which became effective in November 2021.
The law also created a sixteen member Plastics Advisory Council whose job is to monitor the implementation and evaluate the effectiveness of the law and make recommendations for reducing single-use plastic waste.
By May 2023, NJ had significant decline in plastic bag litter and pollution. The Plastics Advisory Council assessed that over 5.5 billion plastic bags and 110 million paper bags were eliminated from the waste stream. For the first time since 2007, plastic bags were NOT included in Clean Ocean’s 2022 Beach Sweep Dirty Dozen list!
Resources:
ANJEC ‘s website NJNoplastics provides more information on the law and resources for residents, businesses and municipalities. NJDEP also has a website GetPastPlastics for more information. Litter Free NJ from NJ Clean Communities has graphics and resources for donating reusable bags https://litterfreenj.com/i
- ANJEC’s Plastic Pollution Reduction Act Fact Sheet
- Plastic Pollution (ANJEC News)
- Stop Plastic Pollution in NJ (ANJEC Fact Sheet)
- Wildlife Over Waste (Environment New Jersey)
- Senate Bill S684- Plastic Reduction (Legislation)