Why I’m not on board with NJ plastic bag ban of 2022 (Opinion)

It’s on its way. The thing that environmentalists have been pining for: the senseless, inane, feel-good plastic bag ban is set to begin here in New Jersey and I don’t remember a dumber law that was ever enacted here in the state.

And I have seen some dumb ones!

The bans apply to a variety of businesses. Included are restaurants, convenience stores, food trucks, movie theaters, and grocery stores that are 2,500 square feet or larger. Grocery stores will also be prohibited from giving paper bags to customers.

There are exemptions for some disposable items like the bags that wrap raw meat, Styrofoam butcher trays, prescription drug bags produce bags. And this is what shows how silly it is. It’s so arbitrary.

Here’s what proves that this is simply a law based on emotion, not science. The government is basically deciding what’s "worthy" of remaining legal in their eyes.

In this case, “they” have decided that you can use a plastic bag for one purpose (such as garbage can liners) but not another (to transport groceries or other items). If you really dig deep and do your research, every review of the claims about plastic bags reveals faulty evidence, junk science, skewed or misinterpreted statistics and completely illogical conclusions.

Not to mention the fact that I can name you 1,000 things that are “bad for the environment” and we still manufacture and use them. Why bags?

This is going to create way more problems than it solves. Most of which Gov. Murphy and his ilk haven’t even anticipated.

They tell you to follow the science. You’ve heard of fuzzy math? Well, this is fuzzy science. But as long as it makes people feel good, we’ll just embrace it. Cause that’s the way we roll here in New Jersey.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Judi Franco only.

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