California lawmakers have passed a second plastic bag ban after acknowledging that the state's first prohibition failed to reduce plastic waste. The new ban, which awaits Governor Gavin Newsom's signature, aims to address a loophole that allowed consumers to use more plastic under the previous legislation.
California lawmakers have passed a revised plastic bag ban, admitting that the state's initial prohibition failed to achieve its goal of reducing plastic waste.
The new legislation, Senate Bill 1053 and Assembly Bill 2236, revises the state's single-use bag ban to stop grocery stores from selling thicker plastic grocery bags and requires them to offer only recycled paper bags at checkout.
California Lawmakers Pass "Do-Over" Plastic Bag Ban After First Attempt Backfires
The ban would only apply to checkout bags at grocery stores and is expected to take effect in 2026 if signed into law by Governor Newsom.
In 2014, California passed SB 270, a statewide ban on single-use plastic bags at grocery, drug, and convenience stores. However, Democrats acknowledged that the ban failed to reduce waste because consumers opted to pay a small fee for the heavier "reusable" plastic bags offered by grocery stores, which were often discarded.
California Lawmakers Pass "Do-Over" Plastic Bag Ban After First Attempt Backfires
Consumer advocacy group CALPIRG claimed that the initial ban led to a 47% jump in plastic bag waste tonnage over the past decade.
"157,385 tons of plastic bag waste was discarded in California the year the law was passed," the Times reported of the group's findings. "By 2022, however, the tonnage of discarded plastic bags had skyrocketed to 231,072 — a 47% jump. Even accounting for an increase in population, the number rose from 4.08 tons per 1,000 people in 2014 to 5.89 tons per 1,000 people in 2022."
California Lawmakers Pass "Do-Over" Plastic Bag Ban After First Attempt Backfires
The new legislation received support from both environmental groups and the California Grocers Association.
The Los Angeles Times endorsed the "do-over" plastic ban in an editorial, arguing that retailers had handed out the thicker plastic bags "like candy" and that consumers could not recycle them.
"This can’t go on," the editorial stated. "We need a do-over — a second plastic bag ban that fulfills the promise that lawmakers made in 2014 by passing Senate Bill 270, and that voters embraced two years later when they rejected an industry-led ballot measure to overturn it."
However, an alliance of California recyclers and manufacturers expressed disappointment with the new bills.
"This ill-advised approval will create a cascade of problems for every Californian," said Roxanne Spiekerman, spokesperson for the Recycling Resource Association of California. "These lawmakers chose to enact legislation that they know is flawed despite specific examples, studies, and polls that show banning plastic film grocery bags hurts consumers, businesses, is not what Californians want, and does not help the environment or limit plastic waste."
California's new plastic bag ban highlights the challenges of reducing plastic waste while accommodating consumer convenience. The state's experience is a cautionary tale for other jurisdictions considering similar measures.
