Information on Jersey City's Bag Ordinance
Jersey City will enforce a city-wide ban on single-use plastic carry-out bags. STARTING JUNE 28, 2019
What bags are banned?
The Jersey City ban will apply to all single-use plastic carry-out bags less than 2.25 mils thick, including “biodegradable” and “compostable” plastic bags. The ban also applies to non-recyclable paper bags.
What bags are allowed?
The ban will not apply to the following bags:
- Heavier-weight plastic bags that can be reused and cleaned multiple times
- Paper bags that are 100% recyclable and contain at least 40% post-consumer recycled content
- Newspaper bags
- Laundry/dry cleaning bags
- Bags used to wrap frozen food, meat, vegetables, and bulk items
- Bags sold in packages intended for use as garbage, pet waste, or yard waste bags
- Bags provided by pharmacists to carry prescription drugs
Why are plastic bags a problem?
- We typically use plastic bags for less than 15 minutes before they are discarded. The average American household uses 1,500 bags every year.
- Plastic bags are difficult to recycle because of their shape and the type of plastic used, so they end up in our landfills, waterways, and neighborhoods.
- Plastics in our oceans are nearly impossible to remove and leads to the death of thousands of marine animals.
- In landfills, depending on conditions, plastics can take 100,000+ years to break down.
