They do pile up. (Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – Talk about unintended consequences.

Some New Jersey residents feel buried under a sudden glut of re-usable shopping bags, NJ.com reports.

The bags have collected in their homes ever since the state’s ban on single-use plastic and paper bags went into effect in May.

Here’s the unexpected wrinkle the ban has wrought in New Jersey: Online supermarket services have been packing their shipments in reusable bags. That means that every time a customer gets a grocery delivery at home, they get a passel of new reusable bags as well.

The bags have apparently stacked up quickly. One resident told NJ.com that they have at least 100 bags, kept in their basement.

It’s gotten to the point where New Jersey lawmakers are considering amending the law to allow online grocery services to use paper bags or cardboard boxes for deliveries.

It’s a wonder that New Jersey banned paper bags in the first place. Paper grocery bags are easy enough to recycle. Even hard-core green New York still allows paper bags to be used in supermarkets. Of course you have to pay 5 cents each for them. Those nickels do add up, making you wonder if it’s about saving the planet or making a profit.

It all goes to show that when lawmakers look to fix one problem, they can easily create another one. The reusable bags might not be as numerous as the old single-use plastic bags, but they’re still going to have to be disposed of someday.

I do my own grocery shopping and I reuse bags. But I can tell you that I’ve accumulated a mountain of reusable bags since the New York plastic bag ban went into effect in 2020.

I’ve got a couple in the trunk of my car. I’ve got a stack of them on a bookcase in the dining room. I’ve got a big bunch of them hanging from the doorknob of the coat closet by the front door. I’ve got more in a bag in the basement, including holiday-themed reusable bags. Some of those haven’t been used in years.

So, yeah, they stack up. I feel New Jersey’s pain.

I’ve finally gotten the hang of bagging my own groceries in the supermarket, even though I’ve had some kind cashiers help me out. Not that I appreciate that tense feeling I get when I feel like I’m delaying the people on line behind me.

Then there’s the attempted strategic placing of items on the checkout conveyor belt so that I can spread the heavier items like gallons of milk or bulky meat around in various bags.

But I still usually forget to bring bags inside with me when I’m shopping somewhere other than the supermarket, like the Staten Island Mall. So I’ve had to pay for some new bags against my will.

Maybe we’re making some incremental improvement in the environment by banning the carryout plastic bags, but there’s still plenty of plastic to be seen all over any supermarket.

There are still plastic bags for fruit and vegetables. There are plastic water and soda bottles. Plastic trays and lids for takeout items like rotisserie chicken. There’s plastic wrapping on beverages and paper towels. Plastic milk containers. Heavy plastic wrapping around various items.

Now add to that the crush of reusable bags, which can quickly get grimy and frequently rip, especially the handles. Are we really making a dent in anything?

And I still do have plenty of the old takeout-style plastic bags in the house, as I imagine others do. I use them to throw out the kitty litter or to line trash pails in the bathroom or bedroom.

Someday I’ll go through them. And someday I’ll have to figure out what to do with all the reusable bags.

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