Plastic bags are becoming a mere memory in California, where Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a bill that bans them from being given out at grocery store checkouts.
“Plastic bags create pollution in our environment and break into microplastics that contaminate our drinking water and threaten our health,” said Jenn Engstrom, State Director of CALPIRG.
“Californians voted to ban plastic grocery bags in our state almost a decade ago, but the law clearly needed a redo. With the Governor’s signature, California has finally banned plastic bags in grocery checkout lanes once and for all,” Engstrom said.
In 2014, California made history as the first state to ban plastic grocery bags. Unfortunately, the law allowed grocery stores to still provide plastic bags so long as they were “reusable” and “recyclable.”
The result was that bag manufacturers began making slightly thicker, heavier plastic bags that they claimed were “reusable” and “recyclable.” But environmentalists said that most of these bags were not recycled or reused, and plastic bag waste continued to pollute the state.
So, CALPIRG and other groups took up the fight again, and worked to pass a bill in California to truly ban plastic bags. They we went door-to-door and gathered thousands of petition signatures backing the bag ban, organized several lobby days in Sacramento, and secured public support from more than 80 city officials, dozens of environmental groups, and the LA Times.
“Nothing we use for a few minutes should pollute the environment for hundreds of years,” said Laura Deehan, State Director of Environment California. “Finally, with this necessary update to the bag ban, plastic grocery bags will no longer be a threat to sea turtles, birds, and other wildlife in California.”
Other signings
Newsom has been busy signing legislation, including:
- Legislation to limit the use of smartphones during school hours;
- Bills to protect digital likenesses of performers;
- Measures cracking down on street takeovers; and
- An initiative to create one million Californians for climate action.