On Sunday, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill closing a loophole that has allowed plastic bag litter to rise in California despite a 2014 law designed to ban the pollution.
“Plastic bags pollute our environment and break down into microplastics that contaminate our drinking water and endanger our health,” said Jenn Engstrom, state director of the consumer advocacy group CALPIRG. “Californians voted to ban plastic bags in the grocery store nearly a decade ago, but the law clearly needed to be revised. With the governor’s signature, California has finally banned plastic bags at supermarket checkouts once and for all.”
In 2014, lawmakers passed a law banning single-use plastic bags at grocery store checkouts and in retail stores. However, stores were allowed to offer customers “reusable” bags for a small fee. These bags included plastic bags made of paper and high-density polyethylene that plastic manufacturers said could be reused.
This year, CALPIRG released a report showing that the amount of plastic bag waste in California has actually increased since 2014 due to a loophole in the law.
In 2014, 157,385 tons of plastic bags were thrown away in California. By 2021, that amount had risen to 231,072 tons – a 47% increase.
Even taking population growth into account, the report says, the figure has increased from 4.08 tonnes per 1,000 inhabitants in 2014 to 5.89 tonnes per 1,000 inhabitants in 2021.
The new law will come into force on January 1, 2026, and will only apply to checkout bags – not bags used to transport fruit and vegetables or to package food that could lead to contamination, such as meat. In addition, from January 1, 2028, the definition of a recycled paper bag would change from a bag made from 40% recycled material to a bag made from over 50% recycled material.
The new ban “at grocery store checkouts solidifies California’s role as a leader in tackling the global plastic pollution crisis,” said Christy Leavitt, director of the Oceana Plastics Campaign.
She said plastic bags are “one of the deadliest types of plastic for marine life,” pointing out that when they break down, they become dangerous pollution and have been found in the air, water, plants and the human body.
“Elected politicians at the state and federal levels should continue to take new actions to stop plastic pollution at the source,” she said.
A 2022 statewide poll by Oceana found that 86% of California voters support local and state measures to reduce single-use plastics, and 92% of California voters are concerned about single-use plastic products such as shopping bags, beverage bottles and take-out food containers.
“Nothing we use for just a few minutes should pollute the environment for hundreds of years,” said Laura Deehan, state director of Environment California. “With this necessary revision of the bag ban, plastic bags will finally no longer pose a threat to sea turtles, birds and other wildlife in California.”
Others also welcomed the new law.
“This is a big deal! Californians voted to ban plastic bags in 2016 and they didn’t get what they voted for,” said Nick Lapis, director of advocacy for Californians Against Waste, referring to Proposition 67, a ballot measure that strengthened the 2014 plastic bag ban and was passed by California voters. “I think this is an important example of California politicians committing to issues for the long term and not just stopping when a law passes.”
However, the plastics recycling industry objected to the draft law.
“We are disappointed that Governor Newsom has chosen to sign Senate Bill 1053,” said Erin Hass, executive director of the American Recyclable Plastic Bag Alliance. “This flawed bill is similar to legislation in New Jersey, Canada and other regions that has led to the widespread use of imported, non-recyclable plastic bags.”
Also on Sunday, the governor vetoed bill AB 2214, which would have required state agencies to begin developing policies and language to combat the growing problem of microplastic pollution.
In a statement outlining his reasons for refusing to sign, Newsom pointed to a 2018 law that directed the Ocean Protection Council to develop a statewide microplastics strategy, which he described as a “comprehensive and coordinated approach to identify early actions California can take to address microplastics pollution and advance existing microplastics research.”
This law required the Council and other state agencies to submit their findings to the State Parliament by December 2025.
“I believe this bill and the requirement for agencies to develop work plans before issuing policy recommendations are premature,” Newsom wrote.
