Bye to Plastic Bags in 2026
Last updated 9/24/2024 at 9:26am
Under a new law, signed by Governor Gavin Newsom on Sept. 22, plastic bags won’t be available any longer, a move that will possibly help reduce a major source of waste and goes further than the current ban.
The current law, Senate Bill 270 was passed in 2014, which banned single-use plastic bags, but it still allowed grocery stores to provide plastic bags at a cost. These bags provided were made with a thicker plastic that purportedly made them reusable and recyclable.
The new measure, approved by state legislators last month, bans all plastic shopping bags starting in 2026. Consumers who don’t bring their own bags will now simply be asked if they want a paper bag. It is not clear if all stores will have this option. The new law also does not restrict the separate sale of any type of bag, but it mandates that only paper bags or a used bag brought by a customer can be available at checkout counters.
Senate Bill 1053 was co-authored by State Senator Catherine Blakespear, D-Encinitas, whose 38th District also includes parts of south Orange County. Senator Blakespear stated that people were not reusing or recycling any plastic bags. She pointed to a state study that found that the amount of plastic shopping bags trashed per person grew from 8 pounds (3.6 kilograms) per year in 2004 to 11 pounds (5 kilograms) per year in 2021.
“We are literally choking our planet with plastic waste,” she said in February.
After Governor Newsom signed the bill, she took to X (formerly Twitter), stating, “We did it! Governor Newsom has signed my bill #SB1053 to #BanTheBag. This is a huge step forward in our efforts to reduce our dependency on #signleuse plastics in our state.”
The environmental nonprofit Oceana applauded Governor Newsom for signing the bill and “safeguarding California’s coastline, marine life, and communities from single-use plastic grocery bags.”
Christy Leavitt, Oceana’s plastics campaign director, said that the new ban on single-use plastic bags at grocery store checkouts “solidifies California as a leader in tackling the global plastic pollution crisis.”
Twelve states, including California, already have some type of statewide plastic bag ban in place, according to the environmental advocacy group Environment America Research & Policy Center. Hundreds of cities across 28 states also have their own plastic bag bans in place.
The California Legislature passed its statewide ban on plastic bags in 2014. The law was later affirmed by voters in a 2016 referendum.
The California Public Interest Research Group said that the new law finally meets the intent of the original bag ban.
“Plastic bags create pollution in our environment and break into microplastics that contaminate our drinking water and threaten our health,” said the group’s director Jenn Engstrom. “Californians voted to ban plastic grocery bags in our state almost a decade ago, but the law clearly needed a redo. With the Governor’s signature, California has finally banned plastic bags in grocery checkout lanes once and for all.”
The law will take effect on Jan. 1, 2026.