By Sunayana Prabhu
WEST LONG BRANCH – Environmentalists, conservationists and many New Jersey residents welcomed the state’s vanguard plastic bag ban last year with hope and cheers. But, according to Monmouth University’s latest poll, the ban may be starting to wear as thin as some of those previously ubiquitous white bags. Although a majority still backs the ban, support for it has dropped.
The poll shows 56% of those in the state continue to support the ban, a dip from the 61% high reported a month before the ban went into effect May 4, 2022. “There has been a small dip in support since the state’s plastic bag ban went into effect, but most New Jerseyans are still on board with it,” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute.
Responding to the poll, the New Jersey Clean Communities Council issued a statement celebrating the success achieved by the ban regardless of the small drop in the number of people who support it. “We are continually asked if we believe the bag ban has accomplished the environmental goals intended by the state law,” JoAnn Gemenden, NJCCC executive director, said in a statement earlier this month. “The answer is evident to anyone living or driving around New Jersey. Single-use plastic bags are no longer blowing in the wind, littering the ground and stuck in trees. New Jerseyans understand the importance of the law and are complying.”
The poll was conducted by telephone over four days in August with 814 New Jersey adults. Similar “small declines” in support for bans on other plastic uses were noted. Nearly 56% have stopped using Styrofoam food containers, but this is also lower than last year’s 64%.
According to NJCCC, “billions of plastic bags have been removed from New Jersey’s waterways, public lands and the waste stream” since the ban went into effect.
“The law is absolutely a great success,” said Cindy Zipf, executive director of Clean Ocean Action. “While there may be some inconveniences, overall, people are compliant and there are billions of less bags in the world. What’s not to love about that accomplishment?”
She further noted that the poll is not without some shortcomings. “With a margin of error of 5.4%, there’s basically no change in public support for the law.”
The Monmouth poll did highlight another growing concern – a spike in the accumulation of reusable bags, either purchased or otherwise acquired from stores and food deliveries. A majority of residents have amassed more than 10 bags since the ban, the statistics revealed, with 16% saying they collected more than 50 reusable bags, 12% around 26 to 50 bags, and 26% between 11 and 25 bags.
“Fewer single-use bags are making their way into the waste stream, but we now face a growing stockpile of reusable bags that New Jerseyans don’t know what to do with,” said Murray.
The New Jersey Clean Communities Council offers several options for consumers to reduce their carbon footprint. The council encourages residents to bring their disposable bags to recycle bins located at local retailers.
The article originally appeared in the October 12 – 18, 2023 print edition of The Two River Times.
