New Jersey targets plastic packaging that fills landfills and pollutes

TRENTON, New Jersey — New Jersey aims to significantly reduce the amount of packaging materials – particularly plastic – thrown away once the package is opened.

From bubble wrap to inflated air-filled plastic bags to those foam peanuts that immediately seem to spill onto the ground, much of what keeps items safe during transport often ends up in landfills or in the environment in the form of pollution.

A bill to be discussed Thursday in the state Legislature would require all materials used in the state to be recyclable or compostable by 2034. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says containers and packaging materials from purchases represent approximately 28% of municipal waste sent to landfills in the United States

New Jersey’s bill seeks a shift away from plastic and imposes fees on manufacturers and distributors for a $120 million fund to boost recycling and reduce solid waste.

California, Colorado, Oregon, Maine and Minnesota have already passed similar bills, according to environmental group Beyond Plastics.

New Jersey’s bill, as proposed, would be the strongest in the country, according to Doug O’Malley, director of Environment New Jersey.

“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 aims to shift financial responsibility for managing the “end of life” of plastic packaging from taxpayers, who pay to send it in landfills, to taxpayers. producers of the material.

Business groups oppose the legislation.

Ray Cantor, head of the New Jersey Business and Industry Association, said businesses are constantly working to reduce the amount of packaging materials they use and increase the amount of recyclables they use. He called the bill “unrealistic” and “unworkable.”

“This completely ignores the 40 years of work and systems that have made New Jersey one of the highest-performing recycling states in the country,” he said. “It bans a multitude of chemicals without any scientific basis. And it would ban advanced plastics recycling, the most promising new technology for recycling currently discarded materials.

His organization defined advanced recycling as “the use of high temperatures and pressures to break down chemicals in plastics and convert them back into commodity chemicals, allowing them to be reused to make new plastics like if they were virgin materials.”

Brooke Helmick, policy director of the New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance, said advanced recycling can be “very, very dangerous.” This can result in the release of toxic chemicals, cause fires, create a risk of chemical leaks and create large volumes of hazardous materials, including benzene, which 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 modernizing it to accommodate the growing recycling of packaging materials.

This would require that by 2032, the amount of single-use packaging products used in the state be reduced by 25%, at least 10% of which would have to come from switching to reusable products or eliminating components in plastic.

By 2034, all packaging products used in the state should be compostable or recyclable, and by 2036, the recycling rate of packaging products in New Jersey should be at least 65%.

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