The governor of New Jersey, Phil Murphy, wants to pass a law in Jersey that would completely cut out the use of plastic and paper disposable bags in stores along with plastic straws in every place where you can stop and grab a meal.

    At first, Murphy vetoed a bill that would essentially put a five-cent sales tax on paper and plastic bags and straws but his lawmakers decided to push for a complete ban on plastic bags and straws altogether and Murphy agreed with this 100%.

    If businesses violated these rules, the first offense they would get would be a $500 fine, then $1,000 for a second offense, and $5,000 for a third offense and so on.

    Murphy is strongly pushing for this because he wants New Jersey to be more like California that became the first state to ban restaurants from automatically handing out plastic straws and was the first state to ban and put a fee on stores that use plastic bags.

    The Clean Ocean Action group found that more than three-quarters of the trash picked up along beaches in jersey in 2017 was plastic waste which could make its way into the ocean to harm sea life.

    The Clean Communities Council in July found that plastic straws and bags make up together 15% of the waste found on the sides of roads.

    Murphy and his team like Jeff Tittel, the director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, are hoping to make this a statewide ban. Personally, I agree with these men are saying more than 100%. Since I get the privilege to vote next year, this is something I would absolutely vote for.

    I believe it’s so important to keep our oceans and the environment in general very healthy and clean and I completely agree with what Matt Seaholm, the executive director of the American Progressive Bag Alliance said about the legislation being “probably the farthest reaching and most onerous piece of legislation to deal with plastics in the country.”

    All I can see if this legislation passed is positivity and a bright and healthy future for our planet.

    I think this is a very strategically smart approach and it’s something I’ve never heard anyone else come up with until now.