The Assembly Appropriations Committee will be considering two bills that would ban single-use plastics. Currently, 100 billion single-use plastic carryout bags and 2 billion Styrofoam plastic coffee cups are thrown out in the United States each year. Less than 10 percent of all plastic is recycled in New Jersey.
Single-use plastics have significant negative impacts on our communities and our environment. Single-use plastic bags can be found in our streets, in our sewers, and in our streams. These bags slowly break down into smaller and smaller pieces, tainting our water. Polystyrene food-service products also can be found littering or streets, sewers, and streams and take centuries to degrade. Plastics can be found everywhere in our environment from the ice in the arctic to the food we eat.
On Thursday the Assembly Appropriations Committee will be considering two bills (S864/A1978) that would ban the use of single-use plastic and paper bags, styrofoam containers, and plastic straws. S864 is a strong bill that would:
- It will phase out both plastic and paper bags within 18 months.
- It will phase out “Styrofoam” food takeout containers within 18 months.
- It will phase out the use of single-use plastic straws. Straws will be available upon request.
Please ask the committee members to release the S864 so that the full Assembly can pass it. It is time to stop this unnecessary source of pollution:
Urge New Jersey Assembly Appropriations Committee to release S864.
This petition is now closed.
End date: Sep 17, 2020
Signatures collected: 231
