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Industry-backed report spreads misinformation on New Jersey bag ban

07 February 2024

A plastic lobbying group paid for a report on New Jersey’s single-use plastic bag law. But its “findings” are based solely on interviews with industry constituents who are pro plastic.

NEW JERSEY – A recent report by Freedonia Custom Research claims New Jersey’s single-use bag ban has led to increased plastic consumption in the state. But the report was commissioned by the American Recyclable Plastic Bag Alliance – a lobbying group that for years has lied about the recyclability of single-use plastic bags – raising several red flags.

New Jersey’s plastic bag law, which went into effect in May 2022, bans single-use plastic bags at grocery stores, restaurants, and retail shops. It also prohibits stores from distributing thicker plastic film bags and calling them “reusable.”. In the two years since New Jersey enacted its bag ban, the state has had the greatest impact of all bag bans in the country – eliminating more than 5.5 billion plastic bags annually.

“This plastic-industry backed report claims that New Jersey’s bag ban has increased the use of reusable bags that contain more plastic and, therefore, increased overall plastic consumption. But this is incredibly misleading. New Jersey is less than two years into this process. Lots of people are buying reusable bags because they didn’t have them before. Some – not all – of those reusable bags may be made from thick, durable plastic. So, while plastic consumption may be up right now, we can’t make a one-for-one comparison.”

– *Peter Blair, Policy and Advocacy Director, Just Zero

The “findings” in Freedonia’s report also raised concerns because of where the data came from. The results were based on interviews with industry constituents – plastic bag suppliers, bag brokers and distributors, and grocery store suppliers – not consumers. By not including data on consumer behavior, this report fails to provide the full scope of the situation.

“Essentially, a report paid for by single-use plastic bag lobbyists and that relied exclusively on interviews with people who sell single-use plastic bags, found that the strongest bag ban in the country isn’t working,” said Blair. “This ‘report’ is nothing but an attempt to eliminate efforts to pass bag ban ordinances and laws across the country.”

There are more than 500 citywide ordinances banning plastic bags in the United States, as well as 12 statewide bans – in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. New bills could soon add Georgia and Massachusetts to that list.

*Peter Blair helped draft the New Jersey bag ban law during his time working for Clean Ocean Action.

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Peter Blair

Policy and Advocacy Director at Just Zero