California Bans Single-use Plastic Bags. Again

If at first you don’t succeed, try again. That’s exactly what the California state legislature attempted to do last week, when it passed a law that will eliminate plastic bags from checkout lanes at grocery stores.

Haven’t we seen this movie before, you might ask. We have, indeed. Back in 2014, SB 270 was passed into law, making California the first state in the nation to ban single-use plastic bags. The law made an exception for thicker plastic carryout bags made from high-density polyethylene that were considered reusable and met certain recyclability standards, writes California Senator Catherine Blakespear (D-Encinitas), who co-authored the new legislation with Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda). “However, the truth is almost none of those bags are reused or recycled, and they end up in landfills or polluting the environment,” she wrote on her website.

Plastic bag waste jumped 47% since passage of SB 270

Consumer advocacy group CALPIRG reported that since the law was passed in 2014, the tonnage of discarded plastic bags had jumped 47% by 2022. 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 in 2022, reported the Los Angeles Times. “Basically what happened is that plastic bag companies invented these thicker plastic bags that technically meet that definition of reusable but are clearly not being reused and don’t look like reusable bags and which just circumvent the law’s intent,” Jenn Engstrom, CALPIRG’S state director, told the Times. SB 1053 and AB 2236 aim to close that loophole by entirely eliminating plastic bags at the checkout stand: Grocery stores may offer recycled paper bags at checkout or consumers can use their own bags to carry out their purchases, writes Blakespear.

Related:Environmental Impact of Plastic Bags Less than Paper and Cotton Bags, Say Researchers

The legislation is now on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk, and will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2026, if he signs it. The law does not apply to plastic that holds produce or wrapped food, and starting in 2028, the definition of a recycled paper bag is one that contains 50% of recycled material as opposed to the current 40%, reported the Los Angeles Times.

Grocers association supports new law

Oddly perhaps, the California Grocers Association supports the new legislation. “We’ve seen our businesses transition to be more environmentally sustainable,” Louis Brown, the trade group’s representative, said at a news conference according to the Times. “We’ve seen our customers transition and so we believe come January 2026, when only paper is available at the point of sale, our members will support it. Our customers will support it.”

One group that does not support it, no way, no how, is the Responsible Recycling Alliance (RRA), a coalition of three plastics processors and recyclers — EFS Plastics, Merlin Plastics, and PreZero US. “This ill-advised approval will create a cascade of problems for every Californian. 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 and businesses, is not what Californians want, and does not help the environment or limit plastic waste,” said Roxanne Spiekerman, spokesperson for the RRA and Vice President of Public Affairs for PreZero US, in a press release.

In some respects, Spiekerman is not wrong. Some studies have shown that, if it is recyclable and the appropriate infrastructure exists, plastic has a smaller environmental footprint than paper, which requires tremendous natural resources both in its production and during the recycling process.

What will Newsom do?

Ordinarily, there would be no hesitation in expecting Gov. Newsom to sign the legislation — and it would still be a shocker if he didn’t. But, if one accepts that paper is not a saintly alternative to plastic from an environmental perspective, the RRR points out that the 10-cent fee for carryout bags instituted by SB 270 to support plastic recycling programs would be gutted by the new law. “If Gov. Newsom signs these bills into law, California will undercut a decade of hard work that improved our state’s environment and will effectively have wasted millions of taxpayer dollars invested in this critical effort,” said Spiekerman.

On that note, the Plastics Industry Association recently commended Newsom on his announcement to invest in more than 250 recycling sites across 30 counties in California. Will the new law stifle some of those resources? I guess the money could be found elsewhere, although with a $26 billion to $45 billion deficit, depending on the source, those opportunities are few and far between.

I started this op-ed with the old saw about not giving up. But one of my favorite quotes from the great W.C. Fields puts a different, and I believe superior, spin on it. “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There’s no point in being a damn fool about it.”

Words of wisdom for lawmakers everywhere.