Beginning January 1, 2026, plastic bags will not be offered at grocery stores, pharmacies, convenience stores, and liquor stores in California. Under SB 1053, these stores will only be allowed to distribute recycled paper bags to customers for a minimum charge of ten cents per bag. Since 2014 there has been a ban on the distribution of disposable plastic bags at grocery stores.
However, plastic bags made of thicker plastic were considered reusable under the 2014 bag ban, and stores were allowed to offer them to customers as reusable bags. The new law closes this loophole by removing the designation of thicker plastic bags as reusable. Customers are still encouraged to bring their own bags to stores. The State’s waste characterization studies show why the new law is needed. In 2004, Californians disposed of roughly 8 pounds of plastic grocery and merchandise bags per person per year. By 2021, that number increased to 11 pounds per person, despite the earlier bag ban.
Customers rarely used the thicker plastic bags more than once and instead the bags went to the landfill, resulting in an increase in the tonnage of waste from plastic grocery and merchandise bags.
The not so great Tate of New York did this as well. I went to Sams club and they sell them $20 for 1000. Love using them in the store watching people wrestle with the cheap paper bags
ReplyDeleteI go shopping, and the halfwit puts one box of saltines in one bag, asks if I want the milk in a bag, then double bags the jug of V8. They double bag the 3 bottles of powerade, and only put 2 or 3 items in each bag. I can consistently re-bag my purchases into 1/3 to1/2 the number of bags. When I would try to bring my own sewn bag, they routinely try to find the bar code, as if I am trying to purchase it. They have even put it in plastic bag, or put the purchase in a plastic, then that bag into the sewn bag. The problem isn't the bag, it's the endemic stupidity.
ReplyDeleteBut...but... the REDWOODS!!!
ReplyDeleteI thought that Cali forced/made/enacted the first laws to ban/make paper bags illegal?!!?!?! Slaps hand to forehead....
ReplyDeleteMy country discouraged plastic bags in supermarkets some years ago and I suspect the supermarkets saw paper bags as another profit stream so were happy to oblige. The paper bags rip, fall apart and cost 35 cents. I have lost goods due to stuff falling onto concrete. They are a pain so I usually carry a cloth bag in my car unless I forget. I used to recycle the plastic bags but just burn the paper ones as they are generally stuffed after a single use.
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