California governor signs law banning all plastic shopping bags at grocery stores

Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — “Paper aliases plastic” will nary longer beryllium a prime astatine market shop checkout lines successful California nether a caller rule signed Sunday by Gov. Gavin Newsom that bans each integrative shopping bags.

California had already banned bladed integrative shopping bags astatine supermarkets and different stores, but shoppers could acquisition bags made pinch a thicker integrative that purportedly made them reusable and recyclable.

The caller measure, approved by authorities legislators past month, bans each integrative shopping bags starting successful 2026. Consumers who don’t bring their ain bags will now simply beryllium asked if they want a insubstantial bag.

State Sen. Catherine Blakespear, 1 of nan bill’s supporters, said group were not reusing aliases recycling immoderate integrative bags. She pointed to a authorities study that recovered that nan magnitude of integrative shopping bags trashed per personification grew from 8 pounds (3.6 kilograms) per twelvemonth successful 2004 to 11 pounds (5 kilograms) per twelvemonth successful 2021.

Blakespear, a Democrat from Encinitas, said nan erstwhile container prohibition passed a decade agone didn’t trim nan wide usage of plastic.
“We are virtually choking our satellite pinch integrative waste,” she said successful February.

The biology nonprofit Oceana applauded Newsom for signing nan measure and “safeguarding California’s coastline, marine life, and communities from single-use integrative market bags.”

Christy Leavitt, Oceana’s plastics run director, said Sunday that nan caller prohibition connected single-use integrative bags astatine market shop checkouts “solidifies California arsenic a leader successful tackling nan world integrative contamination crisis.”

Twelve states, including California, already person immoderate type of statewide integrative container prohibition successful place, according to nan biology defense group Environment America Research & Policy Center. Hundreds of cities crossed 28 states besides person their ain integrative container bans successful place.

The California Legislature passed its statewide prohibition connected integrative bags successful 2014. The rule was later affirmed by voters successful a 2016 referendum.
The California Public Interest Research Group said Sunday that nan caller rule yet meets nan intent of nan original container ban.

“Plastic bags create contamination successful our situation and break into microplastics that contaminate our drinking h2o and frighten our health,” said nan group’s head Jenn Engstrom. “Californians voted to prohibition integrative market bags successful our authorities almost a decade ago, but nan rule intelligibly needed a redo. With nan Governor’s signature, California has yet banned integrative bags successful market checkout lanes erstwhile and for all.”

As San Francisco’s politician successful 2007, Newsom signed nan nation’s first integrative container ban.