California expands ban on plastic grocery bags

Discarded plastic and other material overflow in a garbage bin on October 26, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. FILE PHOTO/Agence France-Presse

LOS ANGELES — California Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation on Sunday that expands the most populous US state’s ban on plastic grocery bags.

The state — which has the fifth largest economy in the world — had banned plastic bags in 2014, but allowed stores to offer consumers thicker bags that were said to be reusable.

However advocates said consumers were not reusing or recycling them, and the ban enacted Sunday did away with plastic bags entirely, The Los Angeles Times reported.

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The new law, which goes into effect in January 2026, focuses only on checkout bags, rather than plastic used to package food, the newspaper said.

The ban “solidifies California as a leader in tackling the global plastic pollution crisis,” Oceana’s Plastics Campaign Director Christy Leavitt said, praising lawmakers for “safeguarding California’s coastline, marine life, and communities from single-use plastic grocery bags.”