California Legislators recently passed two consecutive proposals to ban grocery stores or supermarkets from providing or selling reusable plastic shopping bags to shoppers.
Last Wednesday and Thursday (August 28th and 29th), the California Senate and Assembly passed Proposal No. 1053 and Proposal No. 2236, respectively. The two proposals are very similar, both aiming to reduce pollution in California and promote environmental sustainability by prohibiting supermarkets from providing plastic shopping bags to shoppers.
California was the first state in the United States to ban the use of single-use plastic bags in 2014, but retailers could still offer customers multi-use plastic bags.
However, according to the latest two proposals, consumers will only have the option of paper bags at checkout unless they bring their own bags for shopping. Additionally, the raw materials for paper bags must contain over 50% recycled materials.
After passing through both the Senate and Assembly, the two proposals will be sent to Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk. If signed into law, they could go into effect as early as January 1, 2026.