NJ senator looking to amend bag ban law to help online grocery shoppers

MARLTON, New Jersey (WPVI) -- We're about four months into New Jersey's new bag ban.

Some people love it, including Ginnie Keiser of Sweetwater, NJ.

"I think it's great that we're not throwing away a bunch of plastic into the oceans again," said Keiser.

But many have struggled to adapt to bringing their own bags to the grocery store.

"I just really forget," said Simone Stewart of Marlton. "Even though everyone has them and they're there, sometimes I go back to the car and get them."

One of the main gripes about the law that did away with paper and plastic bags at grocery stores larger than 2,500 square feet: many online grocery orders now come with a new set of reusable bags. Every order.

"We've had customers come in with stacks of bags 30, 40 deep like, 'Here can you please reuse these?' And we can't," said Chris Mentzer, director of operations at Rastelli Market Fresh in Marlton.

He says for sanitary reasons, once a reusable bag is in someone's home, they can't accept it back into the store.

Mentzer would like to see paper bags allowed for online orders.

"I really think they should take a look at home shopping because it's not cost-effective for us as a retailer and it's just not convenient for the actual consumer at home," said Mentzer.

Senator Bob Smith, a Democrat representing New Jersey's 17th District, sponsored the bag ban legislation.

On Tuesday he told Action News he's working on introducing a new bill that would amend the law, focusing on options for online grocery orders, including using cardboard boxes or requiring stores to take back reusable bags.

"And then the third way is maybe paper bags. Because we are saving so much on the grocery store side of it in terms of producing waste that this would be a quick and easy fix," said Smith.

A spokesperson for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection said Tuesday in a statement: "While curbside and delivery services have expanded significantly between passage and implementation of the law, the Department intends to work with stakeholders and through the Plastics Advisory Council to find innovative ways that would promote the reusability of these bags."

Another idea if you have a pile of reusable bags sitting at home: local food banks may need them.

Food banks in New Jersey have until November 4 to switch to reusable bags.

The Food Bank of South Jersey is taking donations of new or like new reusable bags.