NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) — In 2022, New Jersey enacted a plastic bag ban in an effort to lower the state’s plastic consumption. A study by a business-research firm released earlier this month found that consumption has instead tripled.
While the ban did succeed in decreasing total bag volumes by 60%, the transition from single-use plastic film bags to alternatives resulted in a near three-fold increase in plastic consumption for bags, according to research from Freedonia Group, a subsection of MarketResearch.com.
The study shows that six times more woven and non-woven polypropylene plastic was used in the production of reusable bags that were sold to consumers as alternatives.
The material shift to polypropylene bags contributed to a 500% increase in greenhouse gas emissions, as compared to non-woven polypropylene consumption in 2015, the study showed.
Most of these alternative bags are made with non-woven polypropylene, which consumes over 15 times more plastic, and generates five times more greenhouse gas emissions per bag produced than polyethylene (single-use) plastic bags.