N.J. lawmakers tackle recycling cigarette butts, snack bags

New Jersey lawmakers are considering encouraging the recycling of snack bags and cigarette butts, but the first voting session since the summer break doesn’t include a plan to pay for road and bridge work.

Lawmakers returned to the statehouse for voting sessions on Thursday, but an agreement between the Democrat-led Legislature and Republican Gov. Chris Christie to pay for the state’s expired transportation trust fund remains out of reach.

Instead lawmakers are voting on dozens of other measures, from a resolution to encourage the “upcycling” of hard-to-recycle items such as plastic snack bags and cigarette butts to legislation headed toward Christie’s desk to allow deployed National Guardsmen to defer mortgage interest payments.

The $1.6 billion transportation fund lost spending authority on July 1, after Christie and lawmakers failed to reach a deal.