California had already banned thin plastic bags in supermarkets and other stores, but consumers could still buy bags made from thicker plastic that was supposed to make them reusable and recyclable — but that’s no longer the case as Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a law to completely repeal them.
The new measure, approved by state lawmakers 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, The Associated Press reported.
State Sen. Catherine Blakespear, one of the bill’s sponsors, said people weren’t reusing or recycling any plastic bags. She pointed to a state study that found the number of plastic shopping bags thrown away per person rose from 8 pounds per year in 2004 to 11 pounds per year in 2021.
“We are drowning the planet with plastic waste”
Blakespear, a Democrat from Encinitas, said the previous bag ban passed a decade ago did not reduce overall plastic use. “We are literally drowning our planet with plastic waste,” he said.
Oceana, a nonprofit environmental organization, applauded Gavin Newsom for signing the bill and “protecting California’s coastline, marine life and communities from single-use plastic grocery bags.”
Christy Leavitt, director of Oceana’s plastics campaign, said the new ban on single-use plastic bags at grocery checkouts “solidifies California as a leader in the fight against the global plastic pollution crisis,” AP shared.
Twelve states have implemented this initiative
Twelve states, including California, have already implemented some form of statewide plastic bag ban, according to the environmental advocacy group Environment America Research & Policy Center. Hundreds of cities in 28 states have also implemented their own plastic bag bans.
The California Legislature passed its statewide ban on plastic bags in 2014. The law was later confirmed by voters in a referendum in 2016.
The California Public Interest Research Group announced that the new law finally fulfills the intent of the original bag ban.
“They contaminate drinking water”
“Plastic bags pollute our environment and break down into microplastics that contaminate drinking water and threaten our health,” said the group’s director, Jenn Engstrom.
“Californians voted to ban plastic shopping bags in our state nearly a decade ago, but the law clearly needed rewriting. With the governor’s signature, California has finally banned plastic bags at grocery checkouts once and for all,” she stressed.
As mayor of San Francisco in 2007, Newsom signed the nation’s first plastic bag ban.
Latin American countries eliminated plastic bags
It is important to mention that in other countries such as Mexico, since 2020, plastic bags are no longer offered to customers in supermarkets; they must bring their own cloth bags to store their products.
Mexico’s Secretary of the Environment mentioned at that time that there is a problem in the world due to the contamination of disposable plastics, so the ban on these products represents “a grain of sand on the part of Mexico City, a very important action that has been very well received by the people who live in this city.”
In July of this year, Colombia also joined in to avoid using bags and help the planet with the pollution they cause in the ocean. Ecuador and Chile have also carried out the initiative.
With information from AP
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