Belleville holds informational session regarding upcoming plastic bag ban

BELLEVILLE, NJ — With the ban on plastic shopping bags set to begin in New Jersey on May 4, towns across the state are preparing residents to be ready for the change, finding alternatives and handing out reusable bags. In Belleville on April 15, the Belleville Green Team held a presentation at the Belleville Senior Center to share information about the ban and the effects it will have on the state. They handed out canvas shopping bags to residents who attended.

“The numbers that are most commonly recycled are 1 and 2,” Tatiana Gomez, a Belleville native and the founder of Ceres, a marketplace that sells sustainable wholesale products and refill options, said at the event about the recycling categories. “A chip bag probably doesn’t have a recyclable number because it’s a multilayered material. It’s harder to break down.”

The plastic bag ban, which was signed into law by Gov. Phil Murphy in September 2020, also includes the banning of polystyrene food containers and paper bags. While plastic and paper bags will still be available for bulk purchase at stores, they will no longer be an option for carrying groceries. Smaller businesses will still be allowed to offer paper bags. Plastic straws at restaurants will be available only upon request. The ban is a step toward reducing the number of plastic particles increasingly found in the environment, which Gomez spoke about at the Belleville information session.

“They easily break down, but they’re not biodegradable,” she said. “They vary in size, material and use, which makes it harder to recycle them. Not all of them (are cleaned) before recycling, which contaminates other recycled items. Bags also get caught in recycling machines. Then that costs more money, because the machines have to constantly be repaired.”

The plastic bags are officially known as single use, but they can be reused, which Gomez encouraged at the event.

“Use the plastic bags you do have,” she said. “They are reusable, so continue to use them as much as you possibly can. There are also cotton tote bags that can be used for things like beans, lentils, vegetables and flowers.”

Since the ban will eventually cut back on the number of plastic bags in circulation, Gomez said avoiding overbuying at grocery stores can help consumers use fewer bags. Not overbuying also helps cut back on food waste, which is another environmental issue that intersects with the overuse of plastic.

The three typical reasons that people make changes in their everyday lives to be more sustainable, according to Gomez, are environmental impact, health and ethical reasons.

“These are things that are not always easy to do, especially with the way that society is set up,” she said. “So cut yourself some slack. If you can stick to two of the three, then that’s the North Star to reach for.”

Another tip that was given at the event was to be aware of what materials are actually accepted as recycling in order to avoid materials being thrown in landfills. Belleville accepts recycling numbers 1, 2 and 5; glass bottles and jars; metal cans; cartons; and paper and cardboard. The town does not accept recycling numbers 3, 4, 6 or 7, in addition to not accepting cups, caps or lids. A full list of what is and isn’t accepted can be found online at www.bellevillenj.org/Departments/public-works.

Blindly recycling items and hoping they are actually recyclable is called “wishcycling.”

“It’s that hopeful feeling that you have that you’re doing something good, and hoping it will be recycled,” Gomez said. “But you don’t know.”