California’s plastic bag ban is growing: here’s what you need to know
California’s ban on plastic shopping bags will be expanded, but shoppers will still have to wait more than a year before paper becomes the only game in town.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on A bill was signed into law on Sunday that will complete his state’s already existing ban on plastic shopping bags. Ten years ago, California became the first state to ban flimsy plastic grocery bags, which are not easy to recycle and have become a burden on the environment. A loophole in this decade-old law allowed stores to offer customers a thicker type of plastic bag, but once this new law goes into effect, those will disappear too.
The use of plastic shopping bags has made a significant contribution to plastic pollution 2024 report from Condor Ferries saying that approximately 327 million bags end up in the ocean every year from the US alone, while a 2023 Environmental Protection Agency Report found that approximately 3.04 million tons of “plastic bags, sacks and wrappers” ended up in landfills in 2018. California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington have laws banning or restricting single-use plastic bags in an effort to curb these problems.
Here’s how to determine which plastics you can recycle and which takeout containers are recyclable.
What types of bags will be added to California’s ban?
Under the current ban, which went into effect in 2014, stores in California are allowed to offer customers thicker plastic bags that are supposedly more recyclable. Under the comprehensive law signed by Newsom, all plastic bags will be banned from grocery stores, allowing stores to let customers use their own reusable bags or purchase a paper bag.
When will California’s comprehensive plastic bag ban go into effect?
The wait for this extended ban will be quite long, as it will come into effect on January 1, 2026.
Why is the plastic bag ban being expanded?
California State Senator Catherine Blakespear was one of the proponents of the expanded ban as it worked its way through the state legislature. She cited statistics indicating that the current ban has not reduced overall plastic use in the state. According to the state study she referenced, the amount of plastic bags thrown away per person in California grew from eight pounds in 2004 to 11 pounds in 2021.
“We are literally choking our planet with plastic waste,” Blakespear said while speaking in favor of the bill in February.
Read more about what you can do about a world ‘drowning in plastic’ and what mistakes to avoid when recycling paper and cardboard.
