California Gov. Gavin Newson has officially banned the use of all types of plastic bags in grocery checkouts to create a ‘pollution-free environment’.
While single-use plastic bags have been prohibited in the Democrat-led state since 2014, thicker ‘reusable’ plastic bags were available for use across all stores.
But on September 22, Newsom ended the ‘loophole’ and signed a bill that ‘eliminates plastic film carryout bags from grocery store distribution and increases the recycling of paper carryout bags’.
According to the rule, shoppers who don’t bring their own reusable bags will only receive the option to buy paper bags at stores.
Stores can still sell reusable tote bags but not at the checkout counter. There, only paper bags will be offered.
The new law is expected to go into effect on January 1, 2026.
State Sen. Catherine Blakespear, one of the authors of Senate Bill 1053 told SFGate: ‘SB 1053 honors the intent of the original ban on single-use bags enacted 10 years ago that allowed stores to sell customers thicker plastic carryout bags that were considered reusable and met certain recyclability standards.
‘However, the truth is almost none of those bags are reused or recycled, and they end up in landfills or polluting the environment.’
Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, a Democratic assemblywoman and a co-author of the bill also release a statement: ‘We deserve a cleaner future for our communities, our children and our earth.
‘It’s time for us to get rid of these plastic bags and continue to move forward with a more pollution-free environment.’
The California Public Interest Research Group revealed that in 2021, Californians discarded 5.89 tons of plastic bags per 1,000 people, compared with 4.08 tons of plastic bags per 1,000 people in 2014.
According to data from the state Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, Californians disposed of 157,385 tons of plastic bags but in 2022, the number was 231,072 tons — a 47% increase.
The agency also noted plastic bags are usually thrown away by shoppers within 12 minutes and can remain in landfills or oceans for up to 1,000 years.
The state saw a massive surge in the use of thicker plastic bags during the pandemic as people feared that reusable cloth bags could spread the Covid-19 virus.
But this environmental-friendly law has received backlash of its own.
Erin Hass, director of the American Recyclable Plastic Bag Alliance claims that the new law would tremendously impact jobs and tax revenues in the state.
The official also noted that paper bags were much more inconvenient for people who rely on public transportation and shoppers who are unable afford a reusable tote bag.
‘California is once again out of touch with reality,’ Hass told the New York Times.
Taking cue from California, 11 other states some type of statewide plastic bag ban in place, according to the environmental advocacy group Environment America Research & Policy Center.