New Jersey’s plastic drinking straw “By Request Only” law, intended to curb pollution, went into effect on November 4, 2021. Restaurants and businesses now must provide a single-use plastic straw only to customers who request one. The policy is widely supported by lawmakers and the public, although restaurant owners and workers have some reservations about carrying it out.
Although many environmental groups in New Jersey tend to have a positive outlook on the environmental actions the state has taken, Environmental groups are also taking additional actions to encourage businesses to switch towards more environmentally friendly paper straws.
Carly Weldon, a bartender who serves over 200 customers a day at the famous MJ’s Bar & Grille says, “The customers I talk to that have an opinion on the new law, would much rather request a plastic straw rather than drink out of paper straws that tend to degrade inside of your drink.”
Dana Lawson, the supervisor of solid waste planning at the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection says “the law aims to reduce the production of plastic, reduce the number of microplastics entering the environment, reduce litter entering oceans and other waterways, and decrease the accumulation of harmful chemicals leached from plastics into waterways.”
The “by request only” plastic straw law is part of P.L. 2020, c. 117, a law signed by Governor Phil Murphy last year to combat the amount of pollution of single-use plastics discarded in the New Jersey ecosystem.
Other parts of the law that will soon come into effect include banning of single use plastic bags in most stores, and elimination of polystyrene containers or food products. Businesses will have to encourage customers to bring their own reusable bags or sell ones that meet the state’s new regulations.
Joanna Mullowney, Chair of the Ewing Green Team stated “the new law is absolutely a necessary step forward in the war against litter and the wasteful proliferation of the single-use, throwaway culture…Our society needs people to realize the impact of their decisions on the environment and that we cannot continue to foul our own nest”
Keith Palmer, a manager at MJ’s Bar & Grille, who has been working in the culinary/hospitality industry since 2001, says, “time and cost of alternative takeout products are my biggest concern… I would assume our restaurant would switch to aluminum containers that are recyclable when the law goes into effect.”
