California lawmakers in both houses recently approved two bills banning grocery and convenience stores statewide from offering customers reusable plastic bags.
California has already banned stores from offering thin, single-use plastic bags, but advocates of the two bills, formally known as AB2236 and SB1053, say that they haven’t been enough to combat plastic pollution in the state.
The bills passed last week from their respective houses of origin and are now moving to the opposite.
Should the bills become law, stores can still offer customers paper bags or bags made of at least 50% post-consumer recycled materials for checkout for a 10-cent fee.
“Plastics are the next front in our fight against big oil. By 2050, plastic production will exceed 20% of global oil production,” Assemblymember Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda), an author of the bill, said in a statement. “AB 2236 is a critical step to eliminate plastic pollution and eliminates an opportunity for the oil industry to continue destroying our planet.”
Sen. Catherine Blakespear (D-Encinitas), who authored SB 1053, said in a statement that California’s original plastic bag ban has been counterintuitive.
“We need to do better. Shockingly, some 18 billion pounds of plastic waste flows into the oceans every year from coastal regions alone. California must do its part to eliminate this scourge that is contaminating our environment,” she said.
The bills have a wide range of support from environmental groups such as the Ocean Conservancy and the Sierra Club and retail groups such as the California Grocers Association and Kroger’s.
However, the bills have been opposed by the American Recyclable Plastic Bag Alliance, which represents manufacturers and recyclers of film plastic retail bags.
“If SB 1053 passes, the thick, recyclable plastic reusable bags currently mandated by the state would cease to exist. Passing this bill would likely trigger increased plastic use, eliminate the use of 183 million pounds of recycled content in California each year, exacerbate our carbon footprint, move jobs out of California, and significantly raise costs for working families,” a statement said in part.
The bills would need to pass the opposite houses and be signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom before becoming law. Should that happen, the ban would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2026.
While not the focus point of these bills, thin plastic produce bags will also be replaced with recycled paper bags or compostable bags by Jan. 1, 2025, thanks to a law signed by Newsom in 2022.