AVALON – Avalon’s new ordinance banning single-use plastic bags in the borough has strong support in the local business community. The borough is aware that non-recyclable plastic bags will enter the community as residents and visitors receive them from retail establishments outside the borough.
At the Feb. 13 borough council work session, Business Administrator Scott Wahl announced that the municipality would be able to implement a process for repurposing those single-use plastic bags which enter from neighboring communities.
Wahl said that the Avalon Wawa has agreed to establish a collection point for the bags. Wawa will then transport the bags to sites where the normally non-recyclable bags can be repurposed.
Wahl also explained that the borough was applying for a Sustainable New Jersey grant that would allow it to launch a relationship with TerraCycle, a Trenton-based firm that bills itself as the ones who “recycle the unrecyclable.” With grant support, single product TerraCycle boxes will be located at sites like the library and elementary school for disposal of the single-use plastic bags.
“We hope to keep these bags out of the landfill and our waterways,” Wahl said.
