New Jersey Considers the Plastic Bag Debate

New Jersey’s Red Bank borough has brought the proposal of a ban on disposable plastic bags before city council this week, and on September 22 the issue is scheduled to be brought before a public hearing. It’s an issue that was first proposed by Councilman Michael DuPont and has since been on and off the table for almost a year, and now that it’s back it’s bringing out all the usual clashes and conflicts of interest that we’re so used to by now.

If approved, the ordinance would ban the use of plastic shopping bags, starting in July. The four Democrats on the council voted for the introduction of the ordinance and the two Republicans voted for the ordinance to be tabled.

“I find this bill to be very restraining to our business in particular, not only from a business perspective but from an environmental perspective,” said Philip Scaduto, vice president of administration and marketing of Food Circus Supermarkets, which operates Super Foodtown of Red Bank and nine other supermarkets.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: grocery store names on the East Coast are infinitely more exciting than on the West Coast. Let’s all go to Super Foodtown! But I digress — are we surprised that a grocery franchise operator is against a ban? Of course not.

Scaduto said recyclable bags have a second life after their initial use. “Compostable bags, which really only end up in the ground, they have no second life, no second benefit or anything that can be redeemed back into society, unlike recyclable bags, which have alternative uses,” he said.

Scaduto said plastic bags serve other purposes and can be used as garbage bags or to pick up pet waste.

“[Also], you can recycle the bag, and when you recycle the bag, we make other recyclable bags out of that or byproducts of that plastic,” he said. Scaduto said the borough might want to wait and get more information before passing the ordinance.

More than anything, I just want to say that if I have to hear the phrase “pet waste” as a major talking point in favor of disposable plastic bags one more time, I am going to scream until my voice gives out. But anyway, the debate rages on as usual, but if you happen to be in this area of New Jersey then you can make a difference: the 22nd at 7:30PM, at the municipal building at 90 Monmouth St. Be there or be square.

Thursday, September 18th, 2008 at 10:05 am and is filed under Happenings, The Daily. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.