Always return your empty reusable grocery bags to the car is one of the tips for coping with New Jersey's bag ban that starts May 4.

Right now it’s weeks. But soon it’ll be days and before you know it, New Jersey’s strict ban on single-use plastic bags will be in full effect statewide — and grocery store shoppers will likely start relying heavily on reusable bags.

May 4 will mark the start of the ban, meaning all stores in New Jersey will no longer be able to hand out or sell plastic bags at the registers, with paper bags also being banned at grocery stores.

Stores can opt to give away or sell reusable bags. Customers can also repurpose a plastic bag from their private stash at home or use their own reusable bag.

But, as we’re likely to visit the grocery store and local deli multiple times a month, there’s bound to be more considerations to take, like how to keep those bags clean and free from germs.

So, what will New Jersey’s plastic bag ban entail? And how can you keep your bags safe to load up with groceries? This is what experts had to say.

Starting on May 4, 2022, the plastic bag ban — signed into law on Nov. 4, 2020 — will prohibit New Jersey stores, including retail, from selling or providing single-use plastic bags for carryout purchases as well as deliveries and curbside pick-up.

Grocery stores over 2,500 square feet cannot give out or sell paper bags at the register. Most grocery stores are between 12,000 and 40,000 square feet.

Garbage bags, pet waste bags, and Ziploc-style bags will still be all allowed in the state.

If stores are giving out reusable bags, these are the rules they must abide by:

Reusable bags must have handles, be made of some kind of washable fabric, and withstand 125 uses and multiple washes, according to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. The handles must be stitched on and not glued on.

Anything made of plastic, regardless of thickness, is not considered reusable.

Besides those requirements, the reusable bags don’t have to meet a minimum recyclable material or be recycled afterward — although the agency said it encourages recycling.

“The idea here is that we get many uses from each bag so we don’t have to keep buying and buying them in order to supplement our needs,” Daniela Shebitz, associate professor and executive director of Kean University’s School of Environmental and Sustainability Sciences, told NJ Advance Media.

“If we get more use out of one or two or ten bags, we could actually limit our long term environmental impact. The goal is not to buy more and more reusable bags, but instead to use the ones that we have indefinitely,” Shebitz said.

“The short answer is yes, [they’re hygienic], assuming that you practice some typical best practices,” said Donald W. Schaffner, extension specialist in food science and professor at Rutgers University.

“Reusable bags should be stored somewhere where they won’t get contaminated by pets, wild animals, etc.,” he added. “It’s probably a good idea to wash the bags on a regular basis as well. Note that well-made bags should stand up to repeated washing, but poorly made bags may not.”

You can toss fabric bags in the washing machine, or use other household cleaners for the inside of non-fabric bags.

As the state shifts to reusable bags following the ban, it will be important to buy reusable bags that are made to withstand many uses, lest they proliferate in a way that can also be bad for the environment, experts told NJ Advance Media.

Reusable bags contaminated by a leaking package of meat should be washed ASAP.

“The worry is always something like a chicken — that has dangerous bacteria in it — potentially spreading if leaking and left in a bag. Chicken juices might be spreading across to other surfaces and you would not realize you were handling something that was contaminated,” said Louise Wootton, professor of biology and chair of the sustainability committee at Georgian Court University.

Having dedicated reusable bags for meat versus other products might be a good idea, said Wootton.

“If your grocery store offers the option, it’s generally a good idea to overwrap meat and poultry with an extra plastic bag to reduce the possibility of leaks,” said Schaffner. “In my house, we get one extra use out of this extra plastic bag by using it to pick up dog poop!”

Other helpful tips: Quickly inspect the bags after each use and store them in a place they won’t get wet or torn.

William Pennock, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at New Jersey Institute of Technology’s Newark College of Engineering, said he tends to throw his reusable bags in a washing machine and air dry them.

“You wouldn’t want to see yourself bleaching them, for example. One thing that’s true of organic compounds, which include plastics or the food matter that could end up (on the bags), is that they tend to form carcinogenic compounds when exposed to bleach or other oxidants,” Pennock said.

The impact on low-income households might become apparent when considering washing reusable bags, Pennock noted.

“(People) who don’t have a washing machine at home and need to go to a laundromat …certainly it’s a big burden to imagine going to a laundromat and needing to also take your grocery bags,” he said.

Alternatives to plastic bags include naturally-compostable “biobags,” lightweight tote bags, mesh grocery bags or linen bread bags.

You can also use laundry bags, laundry baskets, stock your trunk with reusable cardboard boxes or reuse the plastic bags you have at home.

Think about this: if you shop at stores like Costco, BJs or Sam’s Club, you’re already used to shopping at a bag-free store.

For more information on the ban visit nj.com/plasticbagban. Still have questions about New Jersey’s plastic bag ban? Ask them here.

Steven Rodas may be reached at srodas@njadvancemedia.com. Katie Kausch may be reached at kkausch@njadvancemedia.com.

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