Advocates Urge More Recycling, Manufacturer Responsibility to Reduce Plastic Waste
By Dana DiFilippo | June 14, 2022 | The New Jersey Monitor
Six weeks after New Jersey’s plastic bag ban started, those worried about plastic piling up in landfills or polluting waterways are already plotting what’s next to reduce or recycle an immortal material once hailed as a scientific wonder.
Some are counting the days until a new state law takes effect in January 2024 that bans polystyrene packing peanuts and requires manufacturers to use more recycled content in packaging. A Rutgers professor who invented plastic lumber says builders should use plastic instead of wood to construct bridges and railroads. One lawmaker envisions paving some of New Jersey’s 39,000 miles of public roadways with plastic.
“The statewide law focusing on reusable bags was the first step. Now we want to make sure the next step that’s taken is strong and can help address the plastics pollution problem,” said Kari Martin, Clean Ocean Action’s advocacy campaign manager.
Monday, a parade of plastics advocates and critics debated that next step when they testified at the Statehouse in Trenton before a Senate panel weighing a bill that would require manufacturers to be responsible for the plastics they produce. The Senate’s environment committee heard nearly three hours of testimony from about 20 people on both sides of the issue.
Among the steps environmentalists called for:
Ordering plastic producers to eliminate toxic substances from packaging.
Giving money to schools, programs like Meals on Wheels, wineries, and others to establish practices to wash and refill reusable bottles and packaging instead of using disposables.
Preventing chemical recycling, a process that breaks down used plastics into raw materials that can be reused as chemicals or fuel — but that creates air pollution.
“If you want to fix the plastic pollution problem, recycling isn’t going to do it. We have to get serious about waste reduction,” Judith Enck, president of Beyond Plastics and a former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regional administrator, testified.
