PASCACK VALLEY—The boroughs of Montvale and Westwood have already begun preparing for a plastic bag ban that will take effect in New Jersey next year.
The legislation — which was signed into law by Gov. Phil Murphy in November 2020 — bans businesses from handing out single-use plastic bags, polystyrene food containers, plastic straws and paper bags starting May 4, 2022.
Robert Hanrahan, chairman of Montvale’s Environmental Commission, said the group has started communicating about the ban to borough residents and businesses, and further plans on advertising through town council meetings, local television, Facebook pages and flyers over the next months.
On Aug. 28, just after this issue went to press, the commission was to give out reusable shopping bags from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Montvale’s Day In The Park.
“The bottom line is that these products that are being banned stay plastic for hundreds of years,” Hanrahan said.
“We do have a lot of waterways in Montvale and the plastic will get into the waterway, move to other municipalities and end up in drinking water — we have to be more responsible here for that reason.”
Hanrahan said that municipalities have had the opportunity to put a plastic bag ban in place locally for years, but Montvale chose not to because the borough knew that a statewide ban was coming and did not want the legislation to overlap.
In the meantime, the Montvale Environmental Commission started a program in September 2019 in cooperation with Trex, a manufacturer of recycled plastic decks, railings and other plastics products in Winchester, Virginia.
“In Montvale, we collect plastic bags from the residents and we bring them to a depot so that trucks can turn them into decking and recycle them,” Hanrahan said. “To date, we returned 3,777.6 pounds of plastic bags to Trex for recycling — that’s equivalent to 311,548 plastic bags, which would have ended up in landfill.”
In Westwood, councilmember Chris Montana recently said his borough’s Environmental Advisory Committee was working to educate businesses and residents on alternative forms of plastic bags.
Environmental Advisory Committee board member David Brizzolara added that the borough’s Bags to Benches recycling program — where Westwood receives Trex outdoor benches for its public spaces from recycling plastic — will start up again on Sept. 1 after it was put on hold from the pandemic.
For every 500 pounds collected over a six-month period, Westwood will receive one bench. Over the first two years of the program, Westwood has been given four Trex benches — including two at Borough Hall, one at the Community Garden in Westvale Park, and one at the bus stop at the corner of Mill and 3rd Avenue.
In Westwood, collection boxes are set up at Westwood’s library and Borough Hall, where residents can discard clean, dry plastic bags — including grocery, bread, dry cleaning, Ziploc, cereal, produce and newspaper bags — as well as bubble wrapping, case overwrap, stretch film, pallet wrap and plastic shipping envelopes.
“The benches are a great incentive, but the real benefit of the program is that it takes plastic out of the waste stream and turns it into a useful product,” Brizzolara said.
He added, “Ultimately, we would all like to see a reduction in single-use plastics, but this program offers tangible proof that recycling can make a difference when companies and citizens collaborate on workable solutions.”