Long Beach Township Looking To Nix Use Of Plastic Bags

LONG BEACH TOWNSHIP, NJ - Long Beach Township officials have introduced an ordinance that would forbid local businesses and customers from using single-use plastic bags.

“Single-use plastic bags are just out of control,” Mayor Joseph Mancini told The Sandpaper. “They’re on the water, they’re blowing by on the beach; they’re everywhere. I think it’s time.”

The Board of Commissioner recently introduced the ordinance, which is slated for a public hearing on Oct. 2.

But Mancini wants to take time to meet with business owners and get their takes on the ordinance, which would promote the use of reusable bags instead of plastic.

Mancini wants a six-month phase-in of the bag ban if the ordinance is adopted this fall. Patrons would have to bring their own reusable bags or pay a fee for recycled paper bags.

“It is beyond dispute that the use of single-use plastic carryout bags has a severe and negative environmental impact on the local and global environment as a result of the greenhouse gas emissions emitted to produce such bags, the land-based and ocean-based pollution created, the hazards posed to wildlife, the blocking of storm drains by plastic, the hazards posed to sources of water for humans, and the negative impact on the ecosystem and food chain as a whole,” the ordinance states.

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Photo: Patricia A. Miller