Why do some people in New Jersey suddenly have so many reusable bags?

Nicole Kramaritsch of Roxbury, NJ, has 46 bags that just sit in her garage. Brian Otto has 101 of them, so many that he’s considering making them blackout curtains for his kid’s bedroom. (So ​​far, that idea has gone nowhere.) Lili Mannuzza of Whippany has 74.

“I don’t know what to do with all these bags,” she said.

Mountains of pockets are the unintended consequence of New Jersey strict new bag ban in supermarkets. It went into effect in May and bans not only plastic bags but also paper bags. The well-intentioned law seeks to cut waste and single-use plastics, but for many who rely on grocery delivery and curbside pickup, their orders now come in shopping bags. Shop heavy reusables – lots and lots of them, week after week.

While nearly a dozen states nationwide have implemented restrictions on single-use plastic bags, New Jersey is the only one to ban paper bags because their environmental impact. The law also bans polystyrene food containers and cups, and restricts restaurants from delivering plastic straws unless they are asked to.

Emily Gonyou, 22, a Roselle Park gig worker who provides shopping for people through Instacart, said she was surprised to learn the delivery company didn’t have a special plan to adopt. ban. “They pretty much say, ‘Okay, do exactly what you’re doing, but with reusable bags,'” she says.

Ms. Gonyou said she goes through 50 reusable bags a day, many of which, she suspects, may end up in the trash.

Compared to single-use plastics, more durable reusable bags are only better for the environment if they are actually reused. According to Shelie Miller, a professor at the University of Michigan’s School of Environment and Sustainability, a typical reusable bag, manufactured from polypropylene, must be used at least 10 times in order to account for the extra energy. and the materials needed to make it. For cotton t-shirts, that number is much higher.

The goal of the bag ban is to reduce reliance on single-use plastics such as thin bags that became popular decades ago and are produced from fossil fuels and can take many years to decompose. in a landfill. Of course, many people don’t make it to the landfill, but are blown away by the wind and end up trapped and splashed on tree branches, or else they pollute water and oceans. Paper bags are sometimes considered an eco-friendly alternative because they are easier to recycle and are made from trees, a renewable resource, but they take significantly more energy to produce. .

The New Jersey ban, which applies to grocery stores that measure 2,500 square feet or larger, is intended to encourage in-store shoppers to ditch single-use plastic and paper altogether and bring bags instead. their reuse.

But that, of course, doesn’t work with most online orders.

Over the past three years or so, the country has seen a massive increase in online grocery shopping. While some of these people have returned to in-person shopping as pandemic restrictions have eased, others have formed a new habit. About 6% of food and beverage sales are online, according to an executive with Coresight Research, a retail consulting firm.

“There is clearly a problem with this,” said Bob Smith, a New Jersey senator and co-sponsor of the bill. Mr Smith said the legislature would most likely make an exception by amending the rule allowing paper bags for online orders.

An Instacart spokesperson said the company is ensuring that it complies with state laws and is choosing the most cost-effective reusable bag option for their customers.

Major New Jersey supermarkets declined to share numbers on the percentage of their customers shopping online and the number of reusable bags they have sold since the ban. Some, like Walmart and Target, allow customers to forego reusable bags for in-store pickup orders, but the default for shipping is still reusable bags. A Stop & Shop representative said the company is encouraging online customers to donate bags to local food banks.

Mr. Otto, the owner of 101 bags that also has a children’s bedroom that is too bright, said he still intends to return to sewing a blackout curtain. “Haven’t found the time yet,” he said.

Lisa Budesheim, owner of 89 bags, joked that she was considering putting up a little box in her front yard inspired by those tiny book-lending libraries, with the exception of handbags.

And Kye Riddell, the delivery man, said the garages of some of his older customers are filled with bags. “We just continue to deliver in new bags,” he said.

Dr. Miller said the state of bags in New Jersey is emblematic of many environmental policies. “If we don’t heed the unintended effects of policies like the plastic waste ban, we run the risk of playing Whac-a-Mole on the environment,” she said. “We solve one environmental problem only to create or exacerbate another.”

Some shoppers have gone to great lengths to avoid the ban altogether. Andie Ryder, 35, who works for several delivery services in the Glassboro area, never stops using single-use plastic bags. Just before the handbag law went into effect, she stashed hundreds of flimsy bags to ship groceries to her customers.

In an interview, Ms. Ryder had bad words about the bag ban. There are bigger problems to deal with in the world, she said, only to be interrupted by her best friend, who interjected, “I disagree!”

Either way, for now, Ms. Ryder has found a solution that works for her: One of the stores where she shops has a recycling bin, and when she sees the disposable bags have been banned there. There, she snapped them up and added them to her inventory. . “I am a bag hoarder,” she said.