in our Spotlight on Business Report it started with plastic straws and bags now there's a move to cut down on plastic packaging in the state a senate committee is considering a bill that'll require business owners and manufacturers to do a better job of managing the plastic they sell and use more items made from recycled material instead Ted Goldberg has the [Music] details skip the stop the Senate environment and energy committee is hoping new jerseyans skip the stuff and use less plastic the committee voted 32 to advance a bill that would require most restaurants to provide reusable utensils for customers eating on site if you have a 200 seat restaurant you shouldn't be doing plastic wear on the other hand if you're a roadside stand the regulations would affect restaurants that can seed at least 50 people customers eating elsewhere would have to request plastic utensils for delivery or orders to go debate around this bill grew between environmentalists who say less plastic should be used and the business Community who call this overregulation an estimated 33 billion pounds of plastic enters the marine environment every year that's not plastic production that's not what we throw away that's how much enters the marine environment restaurants with dining capacity are typically um they would typically already have dishwashing capacity for their prep dishes and they shouldn't be permitted to generate unnecessary plastic waste in many instances it's not practical most of those facilities do not have facilities on site or the ability to put out silverware and to collect it and to wash it you'll have to hire create that space another issue is schools which would have a 5-year grace period to introduce reusable utensils to their cafeterias but parents may not want their children using them they could inadvertently hurt them elves others if they don't know how to properly use them could be used as Weapons pose danger to other students and staff it put in the hands of someone with behavioral behavioral or disciplinary issues every school building is different we have some school buildings that don't have kitchens so they're not going to save money by reducing single-use Plastics because food is delivered to them and they don't have a way of cleaning that food the widespread use of plastic isn't just an environmental problem chemicals and Plastics don't break down easily and Advocates say should be done to use less plastic overall tidal wave of plastic that is absolutely overwhelming us the problem with these chemicals is many of them lead to infertility I'm a little old for that right now but just think of your children uh your grandchildren all of them being affected by plastic Micron nanoplastics do not stay at or within the site of exposure they do not stay within the lung they do not stay within the GI system to date plastic particles have been identified in the human lung liver kidney urine heart placenta breast milk and recently in the old factory bulb just like we've normalized having a water bottle there's no reason why we shouldn't have education to normalize bringing your own Cutlery with you to say it's so hard to do in a stadium I bring my stuff with me not a knife if I'm going to a stadium but I have a little Spork every day we're getting more and more scientific data about how badly Plastics are impacting human health the business Community mentions studies of their own which might have contributed to a similar Bill not getting passed into law up in New York all I'm hearing about is people are hurting they can't afford to put groceries in their house they can't put gas in their cars and to add an additional $700 a year to their cost of living is is a lot that is your guess no it was there's a study done at least in New York by York University the committee also heard testimony on a bill that would create a new D office dedicated to managing Plastics and packaging funded by companies grossing more than $5 million a year that bill wasn't voted on but committee chair Bob Smith says it will likely pass the committee by the end of the session at the state house I'm Ted Goldberg NJ Spotlight news [Music]