N.J. Senate committee approves bill charging 5-cent fee for plastic shopping bags

NJ.com ^

[SMGFan]

TRENTON — They clog rivers and streams, pile up along the shoreline and fill up landfills. And now, under legislation approved yesterday by a Senate panel, plastic shopping bags could end up costing customers five cents apiece at most stores in New Jersey.

Under the bill (S812), retailers would be required to charge the fee beginning in 2014, and offer only recyclable paper or plastic bags by 2015. They would also have the option of giving a five-cent credit to customers who packed groceries in their own reusable bags.

Money raised by the bill would go toward cleaning Barnegat Bay, which environmental experts say is having the life choked out of it by a variety of pollutants.

"We might be able to do an environmental two-fer here," state Sen. Bob Smith (D-Middlesex), a primary sponsor of the legislation, said. "We might be able to get plastic and paper bags out of the water bodies, reduce our solid waste stream and at the same time generate funds for cleanup."

The Senate Environment and Energy Committee approved the measure by a vote of 4-0, with one Republican supporting it and another abstaining. The bill was first introduced in 2008, but until yesterday it had not gained much traction in the Legislature. An identical bill is expected to be considered by the Assembly.

[SMGFan]

Elderly, poor and minorities will be hardest hit. /s

[Little Pig]

Wasn’t the whole point of these bags because we were “using up” all the trees to make the now-designated-recyclable paper bags? And there are numerous studies out there that prove reusable bags spread bacteria.

Everything old is new again, I guess.

[Pecos]

You have to remember that NJ is the state where it ts illegal to pump your own gas at a service station. All control. All the time.

[Graybeard58]

Plastic bags do not harm the environment, irresponsible people who don’t dispose of them properly do. Sounds kinda like guns huh?

Leave it to liberals to come up with a solution that affects everybody adversely, when it’s primarily liberals who created the problem. Conservatives don’t live like pigs, liberals do.

Contrast the Tea Party and “Occupy” for proof of that last statement.

[exDemMom]

You have to remember that NJ is the state where it ts illegal to pump your own gas at a service station. All control. All the time.

Oregon is that way, too. I never understood it. I won't ever vacation there because of that.

And charging for grocery bags? Idiotic. Those bags have a lot of uses. So do paper bags. And I already pay for the bags when I get my groceries; it's part of the cost of every item sold.

[Doogle]

"....dat roll looks like dat reusable paper dat feels like sand paper.....it's gonna be one of those days"

[P.O.E.]

I re-use the bags for kitty litter, small trash can liners, laundry while traveling, etc.

So I guess it’s either pay for the bags or other resources to accomplish these tasks.

Gov’t picking our pockets one nickel at a time.

[eccentric]

...customers who packed groceries in their own reusable bags.

Customers don't pack these bags. Cashiers are expected to hold up a line of customers to "pack" them. I dare you to watch this mess.

[Hoodat]

Paper is far more energy-intensive than plastic. For the energy it takes to recycle one paper bag, 84 plastic bags can be recycled instead. And if you would rather go the landfill route, paper bags require seven times the landfill space as their plastic counterparts.

Idiots.

[eccentric]

very sorry for the triple post

[LibLieSlayer]

NJ does not care if people die (bacterial infection from reusable cloth sacks)... as long as there is enough of them left to tax.

LLS

[Fresh Wind]

I don’t understand. They say the plastic bags will be recyclable starting in 2015, but the bags they’re using now are already recyclable. What will change (other than added costs to the consumer caused by government do-gooders’ meddling)?

[synbad600]

Not convenient every time, but you could buy a small box of garbage bags then take a few out after you pay for them and use them to put your groceries in.

[Fiji Hill]

That fee is only a nickel. But like a toll on a bridge, you can expect it to go up, and up, and up.

[Sooth2222]

You have to remember that NJ is the state where it ts illegal to pump your own gas at a service station. All control. All the time.

Oregon is that way, too. I never understood it. I won't ever vacation there because of that.

New Jersey's gasoline prices are still cheaper than the surrounding states so if you don't want to go into a meeting smelling of gasoline, it's not such a bad thing. Having the gas pumps attended probably doesn't cost much. I doubt they pay these kids a lot -- and it's probably not a bad first job for a kid to have on a resume -- it shows that they can show up for work on time without getting fired and handle money.

They'd also need to double the number of gas pumps in the state to have both self and full service islands.

There are a lot of stupid things that I need to put up with living in New Jersey but I don't mind this one.

[wideawake]

That first sentence was entirely fictional.

[GnL]

You sell them for $.05 and I’ll set up shop outside selling them to your customers for $.03.

[momtothree]

They did this in my county and for a grocery shopper.. it is a royal pain. I purchased some cloth bags but to be honest.. I got annoyed that I had to do laundry after each trip (to prevent contamination from Ecoli, Salmonella etc) So, any NJ freepers.. go to Ebay and purchase an entire box of the regular plastic bags (I think they are referred to as t-shirt bags). I got a box of 500 and they last. Stick about twenty under your car seat or in your trunk (the plastic bag ban usually applies to regular stores as well like Walmart, Sears, etc). Just a thought...