Posted on 01/24/2024 6:48:33 AM PST by lowbridge
Plastic consumption in New Jersey spiked by nearly three times following the state’s implementation of a strict ban on single-use plastic shopping bags, a study found.
"Following New Jersey’s ban of single-use bags, the shift from plastic film to alternative bags resulted in a nearly 3x increase in plastic consumption for bags," Freedonia Custom Research (FCR), a business research division for MarketResearch.com, reported in a study published this month.
New Jersey implemented a ban on single-use plastic bags in 2022, the strictest ban on bags in the nation at the time, billing it as an effort to cut back on the plastic one-use bags piling up in landfills.
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Instead of having the intended beneficial impact on the environment, the reusable bag ban has actually backfired, data reported in the study show. Plastic consumption in the state has nearly tripled, with New Jerseyans previously consuming 53 million pounds of plastic before the ban, compared to 151 million pounds following the ban, FCR researchers reported.
Reusable bags made of non-woven polypropylene are much thicker than the typical single-use plastic bags typically found at grocery and convenience stores, using roughly 15 times the amount of plastic, the study reported. Though the bags are built for repeated shopping trips, most New Jerseyans only reuse the bags two to three times before they're discarded.
"[Six times] more woven and non-woven polypropylene plastic was consumed to produce the reusable bags sold to consumers as an alternative. Most of these alternative bags are made with non-woven polypropylene, which is not widely recycled in the United States and does not typically contain any post-consumer recycled materials. This shift in material also resulted in a notable environmental impact, with the increased consumption of polypropylene bags contributing to a 500% increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared to
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Years ago, I shopped at a small “5&10” store that was going out of business. One thing I purchased was all of their remaining bud vases. The clerk just let me keep the small plastic shopping basket since it was their final two days of being open and they were no longer needed.
I’ve found that basket is the handiest thing to have for small shopping trips. I carry it and a nice sturdy canvas bag when going grocery shopping. It is so easy to transfer my groceries from the car into the house.
Similar ones sell on Amazon for $28.00.
I like the cloth bags I got from WalMart. I use them for shopping and for lots of other uses. They are very handy.
During covid I was caring for elderly relatives, and I sprayed all the groceries and the reusable bags with hydrogen peroxide when I arrived at their house.
Those bags were so clean and white 🙂 I still spray them out fron time to time.
Maybe there are more germs in New Jermsey?
They are going to have to have a reciept monitor at the door.
They are instructed not to challenge.
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