California bans plastic bags in grocery stores: why have they banned them and what will be used from now on?

California will no longer offer the option to ask for a plastic bag when checking out at grocery stores. Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a law banning the distribution of these bags across the state beginning in 2026.

The new legislation improves on the original law forbidding single use plastic bags implemented 10 years ago which prohibited thin ones but allowed thicker bags that could supposedly be reused and recycled. The state’s voters affirmed the previous law in a 2016 referendum.

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California bans plastic bags in grocery stores: why have they banned them and what will be used from now on?

According to State Sen. Catherine Blakespear, who spearheaded the new bill, the bags that were allowed a decade ago were in fact not recycled and merely ended up in landfills. She said the new legislation will help reduce plastic bag pollution and protect California’s environment.

“Instead of being asked do you want paper or plastic at checkout, consumers will simply be asked if they want a paper bag, if they haven’t brought a reusable bag,” according to Blakespear.

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Older law did not decrease plastic trash

According to CalRecycle, a branch of the California Environment Protection Agency, the previous ban was not able to stem the increase of plastic bag use. People in California threw away more than 230,000 tons of plastic bags in 2022, a 47% rise from the more than 157,000 tons the year the prohibition was signed into law.

The new measure allows stores to offer recycled paper bags to customers at checkout, and does not restrict the sale of other types of bags.

Only 12 states, including California, have forbidden the use of plastic bags, although hundreds of cities have implemented their own bans.