California has a plastic bag problem — but not for long. California Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed a law fully banning plastic shopping bags in grocery stores, updating a decade-old ban that made plastic pollution in the state worse, not better.
In 2014, California banned traditional plastic shopping bags at supermarkets and other stores that sell food, but shoppers could still purchase bags made of thicker plastic meant to be reused or recycled. However, a state study found that plastic shopping bag waste each year grew from 8 pounds per person in 2004 to 11 pounds per year in 2021. It turns out that shoppers weren't reusing the thicker plastic bags; they were simply discarding them like normal.
The new revamped law bans all plastic shopping bags starting in 2026, asking customers to bring their own reusable bags or buy a paper shopping bag for an additional fee.
Jenn Engstrom, state director for CALPIRG, said in a statement that plastic bag bans work — just not the way California had been doing it. That's mainly due to greenwashing plastic bag manufacturers who took advantage of the previous law's loophole to produce these thicker bags and tout them as sustainable.
"Plastic bag companies have circumvented the [previous] law's intent by mass producing thicker plastic bags that they claim are exempt from the law because they can technically be reused," Engstrom said. "The reality is that few people actually reuse them. These thick bags end up harming our environment and littering our communities just as much as the thinner ones. It's time to finally ban plastic bags once and for all."
Plastic shopping bags are a huge environmental strain — one that many states have worked to address in recent years. Recent data estimates that about 5 trillion plastic bags are produced each year — and almost all of those plastic bags end up in the environment. As NPR reports, many recycling facilities can't recycle plastic bags because the soft material causes equipment jamming at recycling centers.
Plastic shopping bags are one of the most common forms of pollution found in oceans and the environment, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. Plastic bags break down into microplastics, which pollute the air, soil, and water — and never truly disappear from the environment.
"A plastic bag has an average lifespan of 12 minutes and then it is discarded, often clogging sewage drains, contaminating our drinking water, and degenerating into toxic microplastics that fester in our oceans and landfills for up to 1,000 years," California Senator Catherine Blakespear said in a statement.
Effective bag bans can eliminate an estimated 300 single-use plastic bags per person per year, according to a recent report by Environment America and the U.S. PIRG Education Fund.
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Christy Leavitt, plastics campaign director at environmental nonprofit Oceana, said the new law "solidifies California as a leader in tackling the global plastic pollution crisis." But, she stresses, more work needs to be done to adequately protect California's waterways and land.
"Not only is plastic tarnishing California's beaches, but it's in our food, air, water, and even our bodies," she said. "Our state and national elected leaders should continue to adopt new policies to stop plastic pollution at the source."
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