NJ's Plastic Bag Ban Begins May 4: What You Need To Know

NEW JERSEY — Starting May 4, the strictest plastic bag ban in the nation will go into effect in New Jersey.

On that date, plastic bags will be banned at all stores, and paper bags will be banned at large grocery stores (think ShopRite, Stop & Shop, Acme, Trader Joe's, Walmart, etc.) Any grocery store larger than 2,500 square feet can no longer give their customers brown paper bags, even if they charge for them, as is the case in many towns.

Essentially, everyone in the state will have to bring their own reusable bag for all shopping they do. Also, Styrofoam take-out food containers will be banned.

Eight other states — California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, New York, Oregon and Vermont — already have plastic bag bans in place; however they all differ. For example, California's law only bans plastic bags at large retail stores. Hawaii's ban does not apply to brown paper bags.

New Jersey's ban goes the furthest in the nation by banning plastic bags, paper bags and Styrofoam (polystyrene) containers.

Any retail store that is not a grocery store can still provide paper bags. So Home Depot, women's clothing boutiques, etc. can still give shoppers their purchases in brown paper bags.

The goal of the new law, strongly backed by Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, is to entirely phase out the use of plastic bags, pictured above.

“Plastic bags are one of the most problematic forms of garbage, leading to millions of discarded bags that stream annually into our landfills, rivers and oceans,” Murphy previously said, calling New Jersey's ban "historic."

Stores cannot require customers to purchase a reusable tote.

Any store that breaks the new law will be given a warning on the first offense and then fined up to $1,000 per day for the second offense, and up to $5,000 per day for the third and subsequent violations.

Here are some things in New Jersey that can still go in plastic bags:

• Dry cleaning
• Uncooked meat, fish or poultry
• Bags used to contain food sliced or prepared to order, including soup and hot food
• Bags provided by a pharmacy, such as a bag containing prescription medicine
• Bags for animals, such a bag containing fish you buy at a pet store

Contrary to popular belief, plastic straws have not been outlawed in New Jersey.

However, starting on November 4, 2021, restaurants could only provide a plastic straw to a customer if the customer asked for it. Stores may continue to sell packages of single-use plastic straws or drinks that come with a plastic straw, such as juice boxes.

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