Avalon Set to Battle Plastic Pollution

AVALON – Avalon’s Borough Council devoted a large part of its June 27 work session to a discussion of plastic and the pollution threat that casually discarded plastic creates for the marine ecosystem. 
The discussion was the preface to an expected ordinance in the borough that will seek to eliminate the use of certain single-use plastic items by Memorial Day 2019.
With this initiative, Avalon joins other shore communities which are also seeking to protect marine animals and waterways from the dangers of plastic trash.
Stone Harbor debated a set of ordinance changes last month.
The battle is a difficult one. In 2017, Cape May volunteers joined with Clean Ocean Action for its biannual beach sweep. They recovered thousands of plastic bags, syringes, candy wrappers and even a pink flamingo yard ornament.
The report from that sweep was that 81 percent of the items recovered were made of plastic.
Dr. Lenore Tedesco, executive director of the Wetlands Institute, has acted as a science advisor to both Stone Harbor and Avalon. Her presentation in Avalon was similar to the one she gave in Stone Harbor recently. She focused on the dangerous extent of the problem and on the challenges in confronting it.
The pervasive presence of single-use plastic and other non-recyclable material in shopping bags, food product containers, drinking straws, dry cleaner’s bags and almost every other aspect of daily life, makes avoidance and proper disposal of plastic an urgent need. The alternatives, while they exist, require some careful planning.
Key to it all is education. Changing behaviors is always difficult. Doing so around a product as pervasive in peoples’ lives is an even greater challenge.
The discussion in Avalon was similar to that occurring in a number of communities. It involved the search for alternative products, an effort to find ways to encourage more recycling of plastic by making it easier to dispose of, an education effort to convince the public of the urgency of paying attention to the problem and a sensitivity to the expense of solutions for business owners.
Tedesco also argued that it was important to see more than one side to the issue. 
She pointed out that many plant-based alternative products are also difficult to recycle without industrial recycling operations which are not present in the county.
Even when there are no solutions in place for dealing with some plant-based materials that substitute for plastic, moving to products that do not depend on non-renewable materials for their creation like petroleum products, still helps.
“We have to keep the production side of the equation in mind as well,” she said.
Where from here?
The good news was that substitute products exist; they can be similar in price for merchants. Recycling capabilities can be upgraded as substitute products gain use.
Some single-use plastic can be recycled even though only a small percentage is actually returned for recycling at the present.
Establishing more drop-off locations for single-use plastic bags is a relatively simple addition to any matrix of solutions.
Avalon’s grant consultant, Edward Mahaney, told the council that he has located $32,000 in grant funds that could be repurposed for a project like this one and other funds are available.
Enter the State
One aspect of the discussion that threw some uncertainty into the planning was a new piece of legislation which narrowly passed the Senate and the Assembly in Trenton, and awaits the governor’s signature.
The bill would impose a five-cent per bag fee on single-use plastic bags and certain types of paper bags. The fee would hit stores that meet certain square foot dimensions or are part of chains.
The fee would be expected to raise over $23 million with almost all of the funds going into the state budget. The most recent budget plan would see it diverted to help pay for the budget of the Department of Environmental Protection.
A number of environmental groups oppose the law, seeing it as a revenue measure rather than an environmental protection act. They fear the bill would prevent local governments from imposing stricter bans that could be more environmentally beneficial.
Municipalities in the process of establishing regulations for single-use plastic may find themselves in a foot race with the state in order to get an ordinance enacted before the new state law preempts their ability to do so.
It is likely that Avalon will introduce an ordinance at its July 11 council meeting. 
When the ordinance comes up for a second reading and possible adoption at a subsequent meeting, there would be a required public hearing on the measure.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.