Foundation hopes to start plastic bag ban in Brigantine

They make for great cooler-side trash receptacles when the beach cans are too far a walk, but the damage plastic bags can do to beaches has sparked action from South Jersey’s Surfrider Foundation.

Its co-chairs were in Brigantine Saturday to call attention to the pollution on the beach — and others at the Shore. Jeff Hoffberger and Krissy Halkes want Brigantine to be the first city in the state to ban free, single-use plastic bags.

 

The Foundation says fewer than 10 percent of plastic bags used annually are recycled and can do damage to the beaches’ ecosystem; turtles will eat them thinking the bags are jellyfish, while other species can become trapped.

According to the Press of Atlantic City, Hoffberger and Halkes have been hitting the streets distributing fliers and collecting signatures in support of a ban — something Ocean City has considered, but no other shore town has instated.

Feed the Feed: How do you think beaches should approach stopping pollution?