Asbury Park Bans Plastic Bags At Stores (UPDATED)

Plastic bags are about to nearly disappear from Asbury Park stores.

The Asbury Park City Council voted Wednesday to approve an ordinance that bans plastic bags at local stores.

The ordinance, which also calls for a fee on both paper and reusable bags, will go into effect January 1, 2020.

The Jersey Shore Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation also made a presentation to the Asbury Park Council to emphasize the need for the ordinance.

The chapter has conducted numerous beach cleanups in Asbury Park over the years and began collecting and cataloging the data of items found. This information was used to support the idea of bag legislation in the small Monmouth County City.

"Billions of pounds of plastic debris ends up in the Earth’s oceans each year. Single-use plastic bags continue to be a serious threat to marine life," the organization said. "No body of water, waterway, beach, or shoreline is unaffected by this pollution.

"We would like to thank Asbury Park for listening to our guidance and taking action to reduce plastic pollution! We would also like to thank all of the individuals who made calls and sent emails stating your support of the ban."

Here's what it means and why the city is doing it:

• The city is aware that the widespread use of single-use plastic carryout bags creates significant litter problems within Asbury Park.
• The broad use of single-use plastic carryout bags and their disposal creates "an impediment to the achievement of the environmental goals of the city to maintain a clean community that is not hazardous to humans and wildlife."
• The production and disposal of single-use plastic carryout bags "causes significant environmental impacts, including unhealthy and unsightly litter, the depletion of natural resources, the unnecessary use of non-renewable and polluting fossil fuels and increased solid waste disposal costs."
• Effective January 1, 2020, no operator of any covered store or street vendor within the city shall provide any single-use plastic carryout bag to any customer for the purpose of enabling a customer to transport food items, goods or other products
• Effective January 1, 2020, an operator of a covered store or a street vendor may provide a customer with a single-use paper carryout bag or reusable carryout bag, provided that the operator or street vendor shall impose and collect a minimum fee of 10 cents for each single-use paper carryout bag or reusable carryout bag provided to the customer.