<
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/23/california-plastic-bag-ban>
"“Paper or plastic” will no longer be a choice at grocery store checkout lines
in California under a new law signed on Sunday by the governor, Gavin Newsom,
that bans all plastic shopping bags.
California had already banned thin plastic shopping bags at supermarkets and
other stores, but shoppers could purchase bags made with a thicker plastic that
purportedly made them reusable and recyclable.
The new measure, approved by state legislators last month, bans all plastic
shopping bags starting in 2026. Consumers who don’t bring their own bags will
now simply be asked if they want a paper bag.
State senator Catherine Blakespear, one of the bill’s supporters, said people
were not reusing or recycling any plastic bags. She pointed to a state study
that found that the amount of plastic shopping bags trashed a person grew from
8lb (3.6kg) a year in 2004 to 11lb a year in 2021.
Blakespear, a Democrat from Encinitas, said the previous bag ban passed a
decade ago didn’t reduce the overall use of plastic.
“We are literally choking our planet with plastic waste,” she said in February.
The environmental non-profit Oceana applauded Newsom for signing the bill and
“safeguarding California’s coastline, marine life, and communities from
single-use plastic grocery bags”.
Christy Leavitt, Oceana’s plastics campaign director, said on Sunday that the
new ban on single-use plastic bags at grocery store checkouts “solidifies
California as a leader in tackling the global plastic pollution crisis”.
Twelve states, including California, already have some type of statewide
plastic bag ban in place, according to the environmental advocacy group
Environment America Research & Policy Center. Hundreds of cities across 28
states also have their own plastic bag bans in place.
The California legislature passed its statewide ban on plastic bags in 2014.
The law was later affirmed by voters in a 2016 referendum.
The California Public Interest Research Group said on Sunday that the new law
finally meets the intent of the original bag ban."
Via
Fix the News:
https://fixthenews.com/millions-little-bits/
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
