According to the EPA, shopping packaging makes up nearly 28% of municipal waste sent to U.S. landfills.
New Jersey aims to significantly reduce the amount of packaging, especially plastic, that is discarded after opening.
From bubble wrap to fluffy plastic pockets filled with air to foam peanuts that are ready to spill all over the floor, much of the stuff that keeps items safe during transportation ends up in landfills or ends up as contamination. It is often released into the environment.
A bill to be considered in the state House Thursday would require all materials used in the state to be recyclable or compostable by 2034. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, shopping containers and packaging make up about 28% of municipal waste sent to landfills. in the usa
New Jersey’s bill aims to move away from plastics, imposing fees on manufacturers and distributors toward a $120 million fund to increase recycling and reduce solid waste.
California, Colorado, Oregon, Maine and Minnesota have already passed similar laws, according to the environmental group Beyond Plastics.
New Jersey’s proposed legislation would be the strongest in the nation, according to New Jersey Environment Commissioner Doug O’Malley.
“Our waterways are literally swimming in plastic,” he said. “We cannot recycle our way out of this crisis.”
Peter Blair, director of policy and advocacy at environmental group Just Zero, said the bill would shift the financial responsibility for dealing with “end-of-life” plastic packaging from taxpayers who pay to send it to landfills to the public. He said his intention was to move it. Producer of the material.
Business groups oppose the bill.
Ray Cantor, an official with the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, said businesses are constantly working to reduce the amount of packaging they use and increase the amount of recyclable material. He called the bill “unrealistic” and “unworkable.”
“It completely ignores 40 years of work and systems that have made New Jersey one of the most successful recycling states in the nation,” he said. “We are banning many chemicals without a scientific basis, and the most promising new technology for recycling currently discarded materials, advanced recycling of plastics, will also be banned.”
His organization defines advanced recycling as “using high temperatures and pressures to break down the chemicals in the plastic back to its base chemicals, which can then be recycled to make new plastic as if it were virgin material.” defined as “to make available.”
Advanced recycling can be “very dangerous,” said Brooke Helmick, policy director for the New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance. That could lead to the release of toxic chemicals, causing fires, creating chemical leak risks and producing large amounts of hazardous materials such as benzene that are then incinerated, she said.
The bill would require the state Department of Environmental Protection to study the state’s recycling market and calculate the cost of improving it to accommodate increased packaging recycling.
Requires a 25% reduction in the amount of single-use packaging used in the state by 2032, at least 10% of which will be achieved by moving to reusable products or eliminating plastic components. There is a need.
By 2034, all packaging products used in the state must be compostable or recyclable, and by 2036, New Jersey’s packaging product recycling rate must be at least 65% .