New Jersey plastic bag ban is a leader in reducing pollution

Jennifer M. Coffey and Ed Potosnak

Special to USA TODAY Network

New Jersey’s Plastic Pollution Reduction Act is an absolute success. In less than a year from the law’s May 2022 implementation, ghost plastic bags fell off the top 10 list of most common litter items collected in cleanups. On average, Americans use 500 single-use plastic bags annually. In New Jersey, we drastically reduced our plastic consumption by cutting an average of 594 plastic bags per person and took a giant leap toward clean, reusable commerce.

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