The New Jersey Legislature has passed a bill that would limit restaurant owners from distributing plastic serviceware, and is headed to the governor’s desk to be signed into law.
The bill, SB 3195, requires full-service restaurants to provide washable, reusable utensils to dine-in customers, and takeout orders could include single-use utensils and condiment packets upon customer request and only in amounts customers specify.
Fast food restaurants and other casual dining establishments could provide these items to all customers upon request.
The bill has some exemptions: for example, prepackaged food that includes a disposable utensil or single-use condiment packet, and single-use cups for condiments.
The state Senate voted 21-15 to approve, giving the bill the required 21 votes to pass. The Assembly passed the measure 43-24. The next step is for Gov. Phil Murphy to sign the bill, which would go into effect seven months after being signed.
In 2022, New Jersey banned businesses from using single-use plastic bags and some EPS packaging. In mid-2025, an industry-funded analysis indicated that the state’s ban had both positive and negative effects.
The Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag studied various legislative means of reducing bag waste and how bag fees and bans affected waste and consumer behavior. The group is managed by Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy.
So far, 12 states and numerous municipalities have implemented bans on single-use plastic bags, including Chicago, New York City and Los Angeles. Hawai’i carried over legislation into the 2026 session that would ban some single-use plastics and bags. Washington state has pre-filed a bill to expand its current restrictions on plastic shopping bags.
The New Jersey law is the most restrictive, prohibiting distribution of single-use bags, regardless of material, though it does allow smaller grocers to offer paper bags. While the new analysis shows a significant reduction in consumption of single-use bags, regardless of material, it also indicates that more customers are accumulating too many reusable bags.
