Starting on March 8, the City of Hoboken will be carrying out a ban on the use of all carry-out plastic bags, including “reusable” plastic bags and styrofoam products, at all food and retail establishments, according to a communication sent out by Vijay Chaudhuri, Communications Manager and Policy Advisor for Hoboken. Under these new regulations, styrofoam (also known as expanded polystyrene or EPS) products will no longer be allowed to be distributed; this includes “cups, containers, lids, closures, trays, plates, utensils, napkins and more.” The distribution of straws is still permitted.
This ban was an ordinance that was proposed at the July 10, 2020 Hoboken City Council meeting by both Ravi S. Bhalla, Mayor of Hoboken, and the Hoboken Green Team, a group of volunteers who focus on developing plans and programs that will help promote and support a more sustainable community.
This ordinance is part of Hoboken’s Climate Action Plan — a mission by the City of Hoboken to achieve carbon neutrality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Hoboken hopes to surpass the goals in the Paris Agreement, which include reducing greenhouse gas emission to 45% below the levels they were at in 2010 by the year 2030 and eventually reducing greenhouse gas emissions to zero by the year 2050. Also part of Hoboken’s Climate Action Plan is the dual-stream recycling law that took effect in September 2019. This law was meant to reduce the landfill waste produced by Hoboken and involves specific instructions for the disposal of different recycled materials, such as placing commingled recyclables in clear plastic bags outside on the curbs on Mondays after 7:30 p.m. and placing flattened paper and cardboard outside on the curbs on Thursdays after 7:30 p.m.
In January 2019, Hoboken banned the use of single-use plastic bags, taking steps towards a greener city. Some establishments shifted to offering paper bags for a small charge or reusable bags for slightly more. Other stores, such as ShopRite, shifted to offering much sturdier plastic bags labeled as “reusable” and were selling them for approximately 10 cents each. Dawn Zimmer, former Mayor of Hoboken, expressed disapproval at these actions by the stores and supported the plastic bag ban by tweeting, “Glad we got the plastic bag ban— looking forward to [the] next real step at ShopRite. These ‘reusable bags’ [are] plastic & [are] not being reused.”
Paper bags will be available at retail and food businesses at a cost of approximately 10 to 25 cents per bag. This fee will help retailers and food establishments “offset the costs of the paper bags.” Some plastic bags will still be available for free, including “produce bags, product bags (packaging), bags for frozen foods, meat, fish, flowers, plants, or baked goods, pharmacy prescription bags, newspaper bags, laundry or dry-cleaning bags, and packages of multiple bags, which includes pet waste bags.” Residents of Hoboken are encouraged to use reusable bags as much as possible.
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