A bill written by Sen. Catherine Blakespear, D-Encinitas, to ban plastic bags at grocery store checkouts passed the Senate Environmental Quality Committee on Wednesday.
SB 1053 is intended to close a loophole on the original ban passed in 2014 allowing for grocery stores to sell customers thicker plastic bags that could — theoretically — be recycled. But Blakespear said most of those also end up in landfills, subverting the intent of the first law.
"Plastic waste is destroying our environment and jeopardizing our planet," Blakespear said. "A plastic bag has an average lifespan of 12 minutes and then it is discarded, afflicting our environment with toxic microplastics that impact our oceans and landfills for up to 1,000 years. SB 1053 will dramatically cut California's plastic bag pollution."
The bill would stop the use of plastic film bags sold at checkout to consumers by most stores.
According to CalRecycle, the amount of grocery and merchandise bags disposed by Californians grew from 157,385 tons of plastic bags the year California passed the bag ban to 231,072 tons by 2022 — a 47% increase.
Blakespear's bill would tighten standards for reusable bags and requires stores to provide 100% recycled paper bags or let consumers use reusable bags.
The bill goes next to the Senate Appropriations Committee for consideration.
