Didn’t we ban single-use plastic shopping bags in California? Yes — in 2014, though the law didn’t take effect until two years later because the plastic industry tried to overturn it on the 2016 ballot.
But you can hardly tell from a trip to the grocery store, where there are still plenty of plastic bags at the checkout, albeit thicker versions that are supposedly better for the environment. (Spoiler alert: They are not.)
The law banning their flimsier cousins required sturdier replacement bags be offered for a fee, reusable up to 125 times and “recyclable in the state.” They would be available for shoppers who forgot to bring their own bags or who need a plastic bag that could be reused many times and would not end up in the waste stream.
