New Jersey’s ban on plastic (and paper) single-use bags begins this Wednesday, Save Jerseyans, a move championed by the environmental lobby that will fundamentally change the way you shop at the supermarket. There’s also a corresponding ban on Styrofoam products (cups, plates, etc.) which will raise the price of your weekly restaurant takeout order.
What will any of this actually accomplish towards lengthening the life of our home planet? No one can offer you any hard data.
What these basn will do is institute yet another regressive tax on the people of New Jersey, one that will hit poorer New Jerseyans the hardest.
The concept of supermarket “reusable” bags sounds nice (but for the bacteria issue – remember: these Leftists claim to be the guardians of “science”), but let’s face it: you’re still going to need more depending up the size of your grocery list, and you’re going to forget them, too.
There are also plenty of families who take advantage of free or super-cheap curbside pick-up services; these services are especially useful for busy and/or single parents who don’t have someone to watch three kids during an hour plus long grocery trip. Consider one popular chain: Wegmans. Their reusable bags start at 99-cents a piece. Consequently, Wegmans customers are facing an extra $6, $8, or even $12 per visit if they order curbside pick up and are forced to buy new bags each time (which will apparently be the policy of Instacart, the service utilized by Wegmans and other supermarkets). It’s not like you can drop your old bags off and ask them to keep reusing them for you!
An extra $10 per week may not seem like much to Phil Murphy and the rich yuppies who form the bedrock of his coalition, Save Jerseyans, but that’s a car payment (or two) annually for many New Jersey residents.
What did Trenton do to address this problem? According to NJ.com…
“The law that created the bag ban includes a $1.5 million grant, given in parts over three years, for the non-profit organization NJ Clean Communities Council to provide educational services and free reusable bags to communities. Since last May, organization officials said, outreach has been done in the form of events, giveaways, billboards, signage at Motor Vehicle Commission offices, a free online toolkit, social media posts and partnerships with media organizations, business groups and radio stations.”
That’s right: Trenton is spending a FRACTION of what is devotes to services for illegal aliens to defray its new bag tax, and of course, the $1.5 million (a drop in the bucket) is coming out of your own pockets.
If nothing else, this exercise explains why Murphy & Co. are unmoved by the plight of property taxpayers.
New Jersey now belongs to a class of individuals who are happy to pay a premium for virtue signaling regardless of how much virtue is actually realized.
