NJ Packaging Industry Must Cut Waste By 50% Under Proposed Law

NEW JERSEY — Over the past few years, shoppers and restaurant customers in New Jersey have faced bans on “single-use” items like plastic bags and plastic straws in an attempt to make the state a greener place to live. Now it’s time for the companies that produce some of this garbage to also step up to the plate, state lawmakers say.

On Monday, the Packaging Product Stewardship Act (S-3398) took a step forward in the New Jersey Senate after seeing repeated delays in the halls of Trenton.

If the proposed law crosses the finish line, it would require manufacturers and distributors to reduce the amount of single-use packaging products sold in New Jersey by 50 percent over the next 10 years.

The bill would also require all packaging to be “compostable or recyclable” by 2034, and for the recycling rate of packaging products to reach at least 65 percent by 2036.

New Jersey would be allowed to collect an annual surcharge from companies, which would be used to improve the state’s recycling system.

The controversial law faces stiff criticism from business advocates, who claim that it is “overly burdensome and impractical.” Others say it would force businesses to raise prices for shoppers.

“The legislation still sets unrealistic and costly packaging reductions, while also ignoring 40 years of systems that have made New Jersey one of the most successful recycling states in the nation,” argued Ray Cantor of the New Jersey Business & Industry Association.

However, according to the bill’s sponsors, the task of keeping this type of trash out of landfills is already falling on the shoulders of local taxpayers who fund recycling programs – and it’s time for companies to also do their fair share.

“This bill represents a comprehensive effort to ensure that the burden of managing the waste that results from packaging does not fall entirely onto consumers,” said Sen. Bob Smith (NJ-17), one of its primary sponsors.

Smith – who chairs the Senate Environment and Energy Committee – was one of three senators who voted to advance the bill on Monday. Two of his Democratic Party peers also voted yes: John McKeon (NJ-27) and Linda Greenstein (NJ-14). The committee’s two Republican members – Latham Tiver (NJ-8) and Parker Space (NJ-24) voted no.

The senate bill now heads to the Budget and Appropriations Committee for further review.

A companion bill has been introduced in the New Jersey Assembly, where it is being sponsored by Alixon Collazos-Gill (NJ-27), Garnet Hall (NJ-28), and James Kennedy (NJ-22).

Groups that have lent their support to the bill include Clean Ocean Action, the New Jersey Sierra Club, the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions, and Beyond Plastics.

• See Related: Is New Jersey’s Plastic Bag Ban Working? Studies Give Mixed Reviews
• See Related: Most ‘Recycled’ Plastic In This NJ City Ends Up Being Burned, Report Says

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