Set of bills aimed at eliminating thicker, reusable plastic bags from CA grocery stores advances

ORINDA, Calif. — An effort to ban the use of all plastic bags in California grocery stores is moving forward.

AB 2236 and SB 1053, an identical set of bills, passed each House on May 21 with bipartisan support.

Legislators now have until the end of August to approve one of the draft laws. Only one needs to pass in order to go to Governor Newsom’s desk for final approval.

This would strengthen an existing ban that went into effect about 10 years ago.

It’s been nearly a decade since California made history as the first state in the nation to ban single-use plastic bags.

“We just know the law isn’t working,” said Jenn Engstrom, CALPIRG State Director.

MORE: Can heavy-duty plastic bags really be reused as often as the industry says? ABC7 puts them to the test

Engstrom, State Director of the California Public Interest Research Group, worked on the original plastic bag ban.

She says while plastic waste decreased for a while, the pandemic changed everything.

“People were getting a little nervous about bringing their own bags, and then we just saw this resurgence of plastic in our stores and that’s when we really saw these thicker plastic bags appear in large numbers,” she said.

A loophole in the law allowed grocery stores to continue selling thicker plastic bags that are considered “reusable” for at least 125 times.

It’s something ABC7’s Lyanne Melendez put to the test last year.

“The reality is that people aren’t reusing them, so they’re ending up as trash,” Engstrom said.

According to data from CalRecycle, the amount of plastic bags thrown away per person has increased.

It reached an all-time high in 2021 with more than 230,000 tons dumped nationwide.

Assemblywoman Rebecca Bauer-Kahan of Orinda is working on one of two identical bills aimed at changing that.

“We are moving to 100% paper bags in grocery stores in 2026,” Bauer-Kahan said.

MORE: CA to begin phasing out single-use plastic bags used for meat and produce: Here’s why

She was inspired to stop using thicker “reusable” grocery bags by her teenage son.

“We live along the beautiful creeks of Orinda and we have a grocery store right on the creek and he started noticing that in our nature areas, trash and bags from the grocery store were ending up in our waterways and we would see it.” she said.

Although the companies that produce these plastic bags oppose this effort.

The American Plastic Bag Recyclable Alliance says “bans are forcing stores and shoppers to switch to other products that are more expensive…with food prices continuing to rise from near-record inflation, these increased costs will are passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices”.

If approved, buyers will still have a paper option.

But it’ll also cost about a dime, and they’ll have to be made from at least 50 percent post-consumer recycled material.