On September 22, 2024, Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill (“SB”) 1053, which prohibits grocery stores from offering single-use plastic carry out bags for sale. Instead, stores must offer only paper bags.

Beginning on January 1, 2026, stores may not offer single-use plastic carry out bags for the purpose of carrying purchased goods, with limited exceptions. Only “recycled paper bags,” would be permitted. Beginning on January 1, 2028, recycled paper bags must be made from a minimum of 50% postconsumer recycled materials.

The legislation targeted a perceived loophole in California’s 2016 ban of single-use plastic bags at grocery store checkouts. Previous law allowed stores to sell consumers thick plastic bags at checkout. However, CalRecycle found that the thicker bags were difficult to recycle and rarely reused. CalRecycle found that the amount of grocery and merchandise bags disposed by Californians increased by 47% from 157,385 tons of plastic bags in 2016 to 231,072 tons by 2022.

The Senate Floor analysis of SB 1053 noted: “Foundationally, this bill seeks to reduce the usage of single-use bags and encourage consumers to bring their own reusable bags to the grocery store. With the intention of this bill being to only allow recycled paper bags to be allowed at the point of sale and remaining agnostic towards the definition of a “reusable” bag, consumers will have the choice to purchase any reusable bag. Empowering this consumer agency may ensure that reusable bags actually become reused. At its core, SB1053 seeks to shift consumer behavior away from “make-take-dispose” and towards reuse.”

The bill reflects some of the unintended consequences of past single-use plastic legislation, which was noted in California and in New Jersey after bans on single-use plastics increased the production of thicker plastic and created more plastic waste.