CALIF. BILL TO BAN ALL PLASTIC SHOPPING BAGS

A new California bill announced Thursday aims to ban all plastic shopping bags in 2026. California already bans thin plastic shopping bags at grocery stores and other shops, but shoppers at checkout can purchase bags made with thicker plastic, which makes them reusable and recyclable. Democratic State Senator Catherine Blakespear said people are not reusing or recycling those bags. She points to a state study that found the amount of plastic shopping bags trashed per person grew from eight pounds per year in 2004 to 11 pounds per year in 2021. What is the average lifespan of a plastic bag? Bags like that, their lifespan is 12 minutes, 12 minutes. That's on average. And then how long does it take for them to degrade in our atmosphere? Over a thousand years. So for a 12 minute lifespan and the convenience of carrying your groceries home, it goes into what some people think is recycling, but really is not recycling. It goes into our landfills, it goes into our oceans, it goes into all everything we eat. 12 states, including California, already have some type of statewide plastic bag ban in place. Hundreds of cities across 28 states also have their own plastic bag bans in place. If the legislature passes this bill, it would be up to Governor Gavin Newsom to decide whether to sign it into law. When he was San Francisco's mayor in 2007, Newsom signed the nation's first plastic bag ban.