Starting in 2026, “paper or plastic” will no longer be an option at grocery store checkouts in California. A new law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday bans all plastic shopping bags in the state.
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While California had already prohibited thin plastic bags in supermarkets and stores, shoppers could still buy thicker plastic bags, which were marketed as reusable and recyclable. However, this new legislation, passed by lawmakers last month, eliminates all plastic bag options. Shoppers without their own bags will now be offered paper bags instead.
State Sen. Catherine Blakespear, a supporter of the bill, emphasized that people were neither reusing nor recycling plastic bags. She referenced a state study showing an increase in plastic bag waste per person from 8 pounds (3.6 kilograms) in 2004 to 11 pounds (5 kilograms) in 2021. Blakespear, a Democrat from Encinitas, noted that the previous ban a decade ago did not effectively curb plastic use, stating, “We are literally choking our planet with plastic waste.”
Environmental group Oceana praised Newsom for signing the bill, with Christy Leavitt, the organization’s plastics campaign director, commending California’s leadership in addressing plastic pollution. She noted that the ban would help protect the state’s coastline, marine life, and communities from the impacts of single-use plastic.
California is one of 12 states with some form of plastic bag ban, according to the environmental advocacy group Environment America Research & Policy Center. Additionally, hundreds of cities across 28 states have enacted their own bans.
The state first passed a ban on plastic bags in 2014, which was upheld by voters in a 2016 referendum. However, Jenn Engstrom, director of the California Public Interest Research Group, said the original law needed an update to meet its intended goals. She remarked, “Plastic bags pollute our environment and break down into microplastics that contaminate drinking water and harm our health. Californians voted to ban plastic bags nearly a decade ago, and with this new law, that goal has finally been achieved.”
Notably, Newsom has long been involved in efforts to reduce plastic waste, having signed the nation’s first plastic bag ban as mayor of San Francisco in 2007.
