Poll: A New Tax for Plastic Supermarket Bags May Be in Your Future
A New Jersey Senate Committee voted this week to approve a new 5-cent fee for plastic supermarket bags which will go to fund environmental cleanup.
A new Senate bill could have you paying more for plastic bags at the grocery store.
The Carryout Bag Reduction and Recycling Act was approved by a 4-0 vote of the Senate Environmental Energy Committee on Monday that would require stores to charge a 5-cent fee per plastic food bag at the checkout aisle beginning in 2014.
On the other hand, the bill would also give a 5-cent rebate or credit for every reusable bag provided by a shopper. In addition, the bill would require stores to only offer recyclable carryout bags by 2015.
The bill will soon be taken up in the Assembly, according to NJ.com.
The 5-cent fee would go toward the Department of Environmental Protection’s Barnegat Bay Restoration Fund, which works to improve the water quality of polluted Barnegat Bay.
The bill was first introduced in 2008.
Innumerable other states and towns have passed laws in recent years to curb the use of plastic bags, which are infamous for polluting waterways and beaches.
So what do you think, Millburn? Would you complain if you had to pay 5 cents for every plastic bag at the grocery store if you knew it was going to a good cause? Vote in the Patch poll below!
Dazed not Confused
5:13 pm on Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Absolutely, there is no excuse for anyone not to bring their own bags to all stores, as they have been doing in much of europe for years. Plastic bags are an environmental menace.
David Harrison
8:08 pm on Tuesday, December 18, 2012
+1 Dazed. It amazes me that people don't bring their own bags, especially since the market pays you up to 10 cents per bag. I asked a couple of the local supermarkets if they would switch this around and charge for disposable bags. They refused citing competitive concerns. This legislation would force the issue. Patch, another option on the survey response should be for those of us who already bring our own bags, and support the legislation.
Dazed not Confused
12:45 pm on Thursday, December 20, 2012
163 comments on the 'top dog' and only 7 votes on this. Maybe we deserve the wrath that our neglect of the environment will spawn.