By Pham Tran
On Sept. 24, 2024, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 1053 (SB 1053) to extend the requirements of the existing Single-Use Carryout Bag Ban, signed into legislation in 2014 through Senate Bill 270 (SB 270).
The ban will take effect starting on Jan. 1, 2026, where retail stores are required to get rid of all single-use carryout plastic bags and replace them with recycled paper bags with a charge of 10 cents. These include grocery stores, retail stores with a pharmacy, convenience stores, food marts and liquor stores.
The goal of SB 1053 is to reduce plastic pollution in California and promote a healthier planet. It also intends to close the loophole created by SB 270. The bill originally asked stores to sell thicker, reusable plastic bags at checkout to customers, which unintentionally led to plastic waste build-up in landfills and oceans, since many of the bags were neither recycled nor reused.
All paper bags sold by businesses must be composed of at least 50% post-consumer recycled materials. This will help to increase the amount of recycled material content and decrease the amount of non-recyclable virgin paper.
However, shifting to paper bag consumption does have its own pros and cons and here are some:
PROS
- Can be broken down naturally and easily by the environment
- Easy to recycle and can be reused for different purposes
- Have a more eco-friendly look
CONS
- Can be torn apart easily if the content inside is too heavy
- Possible larger carbon footprint since it requires more water, energy and trees to produce
- Less convenient in transportation
Despite the mentioned cons, when compared to plastic bags, paper bags are still a better option with the increasing need for sustainability. According to the SB 270 Report to the Legislature, only 3.87% of items found during the Coastal Cleanup Day hosted by the Ocean Conservancy were plastic or paper bags. This indicates that the post-law results are positive so far and are likely to continue as we move forward into the future.
And what about you? What are your thoughts on this law and how has it affected your family?
