California plastic bag waste increased in recent years, despite ban: study
A customer places a melon into a plastic carrier bag, branded with the Aldi name on June 29, 2015. Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg via Getty Images
LOS ANGELES - California became the first state to adopt a ban on single-use plastic bags nearly a decade ago. So why has plastic bag waste increased?
According to a study conducted by CalRecycle, over 150,000 tons of plastic bag waste were discarded in California the year the law was passed.
By 2022, the amount of discarded plastic bags jumped to over 230,000 tons, an increase of nearly 50%. Even accounting for an uptick in population, the number rose from about four tons per 1,000 people in 2014 to almost six tons per 1,000 people in 2022.
Experts say this is because the initial ban that passed in 2014 included a crucial loophole: a section of the law still allows grocery stores and large retailers to provide thicker, heavier-weight plastic bags to customers, for just 10 cents each.
California lawmakers are hoping to close this loophole with new legislation that will ban the thick plastic bags offered in checkout lines.
A new bill announced earlier this month would ban all plastic shopping bags by 2026.
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"It shows that the plastic bag ban that we passed in this state in 2014 did not reduce the overall use of plastic," said Democratic Sen. Catherine Blakespear of the state's legislation thus far. "It actually resulted in a substantial increase in plastic."
Additionally, Senate Bill 777, proposed by state Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica) last year, would require some stores to donate the bag fees collected to consumer education, instead of keeping it all as profit. If signed into law, the bill would also bring back the requirement that stores keep records of what happens to the bags they collect for recycling.
The bill passed through the Senate and Assembly late 2023, but has yet to be signed into law.
In 2022, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a ban on single-use plastics into law. Under this legislation at least 30% of plastic items sold, distributed or imported into the state must be recyclable by Jan. 1, 2028. By 2032, that number rises to 65%.
It also calls for a 25% reduction in single-use plastic waste by 2032 and provides CalRecycle with the authority to increase that percentage if the amount of plastic in the economy and waste stream grows.
So far, only 12 states, including California, have some type of statewide plastic bag ban in place, according to the environmental advocacy group Environment America Research & Policy Center.
"We are literally choking our planet with plastic waste," said Blakespear.