You'll Have To Pay For Plastic, Paper Grocery Bags, N.J. Bill Says

You'd have to pay for those plastic or paper bags that make it easy to carry your groceries, according to a bill proposed by N.J. lawmakers.

Shoppers would be required to pay 5 cents for every plastic or paper bag they use to carry their purchases under a bill passed by a state Assembly committee last week.

New Jersey would would begin charging the 5-cent fee for each single-use carryout bag on June 1, 2017, according to the bill.

Stores and the state Division of Taxation would each keep a few cents apiece, while the remaining 3 cents would be used to create the "Healthy Schools and Community Lead Abatement Fund" to fund water testing in homes and schools.

The bill, which the state Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee approved by a 5-1 vote last Thursday, would exempt people who are 65 and older.

Others exempted would be people enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children; the Nutrition Assistance Program; and/or the Work First New Jersey public assistance program.

Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, called the bill "a one-two punch for the environment," saying that getting rid of plastic and paper bags and helping to get lead out of school and community drinking water is vital.

"It helps prevent litter and plastic bag pollution while helping to fund lead abatement efforts," he said in a release. "Lead is a serious problem that we are seeing in communities across the state. Many children are testing for toxic levels of lead and too many schools are unable to use their drinking water."

Right now, only California has enacted a statewide ban on plastic bags, and New Jersey dropped a plan to ban them outright that was part of an earlier version of the bill.

Under the bill, each store operator would be required to indicate the total number of single-use carryout bags provided to a customer and the total fee charged for the bags on the sales or other receipt given to the customer.

The bill also would require the state Department of Environmental Protection to establish a public information program which addresses the harmful environmental effects caused by single-use carryout bags, and encourages consumers to use reusable carryout bags for retail shopping.

The public information program would include information on the fee charged for single-use carryout bags pursuant to the bill.