The Story of Bags

A History of California’s Plastic Bag Ban

By Krystal Raynes on 6/6/2025

Beginning Jan. 1, 2026, stores will only be allowed to distribute recycled paper bags to customers at the point of sale.

SB 1053 (Blakespear, Chapter 453, Statutes of 2024) was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom, replacing SB 270.

To learn more about the changes that will go into effect in 2026, review the SB 1053 Program Update here.

Overview

Californians Against Waste has been at the forefront of shaping legislation and regulations on plastic bags in California.

Once upon a time, plastic bags choked California’s roadways and oceans. How did we ever fight this monster? This page intends to educate readers about the negative impacts of plastic bags, provide a comprehensive history of California’s plastic bag ban as it relates to CAW, and the positive impacts that California bag bans have had on the environment.

PROLOGUE:

Not long ago, California was plagued by an insidious foe: the plastic bag. These crinkling intruders clogged rivers, littered landscapes, and wreaked havoc on wildlife. For years, they roamed unchecked, a blight on the Golden State.

But then, a brave alliance rose to face the menace. Armed with policy and persistence, they championed a bold vision: to banish plastic bags once and for all. Their triumph, marked by the passage of SB 1053, turned the tide, setting California on a path toward a cleaner, greener future.

SCENE ONE: 1965 -- Hello World, Hello Plastic Bags

The one-piece plastic shopping bag was first patented in Sweden in 1965. In 1982, Safeway and Kroger switched to plastic bags in their grocery stores and marketed them as a cheaper, stronger, and easier to carry solution than paper. From then on, plastic bags grew to become the largest share of the shopping bag market. [i]

Because of their immense popularity and market share, plastic bags were once ubiquitous in the Californian environment. Unlike other waste, these bags can travel long distances over land, pushed by the wind like tumbleweeds. Plastic bags blown from trash cans, garbage trucks and landfills often do not stop until they reach a stream, river or the ocean and end up as plastic pollution.

Plastic bag pollution becomes plastic pollution in the environment. Plastic pollution affects every lake, river, sea and ocean in the world. According to the World Economic Forum, at least 8 metric tons of plastic debris enters the ocean every year: the equivalent of dumping the contents of one garbage truck into the ocean every minute. The report warns that there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish by 2050 if we do not curb our consumption of plastics. [ii]

[i] https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/birth-ban-history-plastic-shopping-bag

[ii] https://www.weforum.org/press/2016/01/more-plastic-than-fish-in-the-ocean-by-2050-report-offers-blueprint-for-change/

The Problem with Plastic Bags in California

An image of workers trying to unjam a machine. From the CAW archives.

**Before California's statewide single-use plastic bag ban, Californians used billions of plastic bags per year and cost millions of dollars in cleanup costs.**

Using data from CalRecycle’s (formerly the California Integrated Waste Management Board) “California 2008 Statewide Waste Characterization Study”, CAW determined that between 13 and 20 billion of these bags were used every year, but only 3% were recycled.[i]

NRDC estimated that every year before the statewide single-use plastic bag ban, California cities spent about $11 per resident to keep litter from ending up in our oceans. For California, the overall cost to protect our waters from litter was roughly $428 million each year--with between 8% to 25% attributable to plastic bags alone according to clean up data from San Jose and Los Angeles County.

In California, plastic bags are not able to be processed through the waste stream properly. Plastic bags thrown in curbside recycling would often jam sorting machines and cause millions of dollars in damages and loss of productivity.

A video of plastic bags caught in a paper line at a recycling facility. From the CAW archives.

Plastic bags had, and continue to have, a low recycling rate. Plastic bags are not collected in curbside recycling; waste and have a low recycling value. The market for recycled plastic bags continue to be small, and there appears to be few major companies with a demand for used plastic bags. A 2012 American Chemistry Council report revealed that more than half (59%) of the recovered plastic bags and film in the US was exported to China.

Numerous international, national, state and local advocates called for the banning or drastic reduction of plastic bags due to their environmental damage. In 2009, Achim Steiner, head of the UN Environmental Program, said "there is simply zero justification for manufacturing [plastic bags] any more, anywhere.”

[i] https://www2.calrecycle.ca.gov/Publications/Download/911

2007 – 2014: Local Ordinances -- Cities and Counties Did It First

Over 100 CA Cities and Counties adopted plastic bag ban ordinances prior to upholding the first statewide ban, but jurisdictions had to fend off lawsuits from the plastic industry.

In 2007, the city of San Francisco became the first jurisdiction in California to ban check out bags. From 2007 – 2014, over 151 California cities and counties adopted various versions of a bag ban. The results speak for themselves.

One year after LA County implemented its bag ban with a small charge on paper bags, there was a 100% reduction in the distribution of single-use plastic bags in covered stores, along with a capping of paper bag use. In San Jose, they’ve seen a 76% reduction in creek and river litter, a 59% drop in park and roadside plastic bag litter, and a 69% reduction in plastic bag litter in storm drains.

Statewide:

Local bag policies resulted in the reduction of approximately 185,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions per year.

Northern California:

San Jose: San Jose found a 76% reduction in creek and river litter, a 59% drop in park and roadside plastic bag litter, and a 69% reduction in plastic bag litter in storm drains. Visual observations in stores reported that 54.6% of bags used by customers were reusable, and 44.6% of customers did not use any bag.
Alameda County: In less than 2 years, 85% fewer bag purchases overall as stores reported buying 50-90% fewer bags. More than double the amount of customers are now bringing in their own bags or leaving without any. Plastic bags found in storm drains decreased by roughly 44%.
San Francisco (Table ES-5): 18% reduction in plastic bag street litter from 2007 to 2009.
Mountain View: From July 2009 to July 2014, observed that shoppers using single-use bags decreased from 66% to 11%, while shoppers that used reusable bags or no bags increased from 34% to 89%.
San Mateo County: 162% more people bringing their own bags, 130% more people carrying out items without a bag.
Santa Cruz/Monterey: Beach cleanups show that as more local bans were passed between 2009 and 2013, the average number of plastic bags found decreased from 65 per event to just 6.

Southern California:

Santa Barbara: After 2 years, almost 45 million single-use plastic shopping bags were eliminated; an estimated 95% of all plastic bags generated in the city. The vast majority of consumers shifted to reusable or no bags, with paper bag consumption reduced by as much as 42%.
LA County: 95% reduction of all single-use bags (30% reduction of paper) (also see this Nov 2012 update).
Southern California cities with bag bans have one-third as many plastic bags/pieces in their storm water runoff.

A list of jurisdictions that adopted ordinances in California prior to upholding the statewide ban is available on CalRecycle’s website here. Alternatively, a pdf summary of local ordinances in order of adoption is available here .

See the list of local bag ordinances across the nation here.

**While local jurisdictions worked to protect their communities and health from plastic pollution, many local governments faced the threat of lawsuits from the plastics industry.**

After passing bag bans, local governments faced persistent challenges from corporate interests who sought to delay or block said bans on single-use plastic bags. Plastic bag manufacturers, particularly from South Carolina and Texas, threatened lawsuits and filed petitions against local ordinances, hoping to stall their implementation. Despite these efforts, cities and counties across California have stood strong and prevailed in the courts, demonstrating that environmentally focused policies can overcome corporate pushback.

These legal victories were the result of years of hard work by local governments and environmental organizations, who effectively challenged corporate attempts to maintain the status quo. Manhattan Beach's victory in 2011, where the California State Supreme Court ruled that an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) was not required for its plastic bag ban, set an important precedent for other municipalities.

One of the most significant victories came on May 9, 2014, when Save the Plastic Bag Coalition (STPBC) dropped its lawsuit against Santa Cruz County over its bag ordinance. Just a few months earlier, the California State Supreme Court denied a petition to review a ruling in favor of San Francisco's bag ban on April 16, 2014, after the First District Court of Appeal upheld the local ban on single-use bags on December 10, 2013. In 2013, other counties like Marin and Los Angeles also saw the courts back their bag bans, with rulings affirming that these local ordinances did not violate state laws or constitutional principles.

Ultimately, these court rulings showed a shift in California’s policy landscape, where the environmental righteousness of cities and counties won over the interests of industries contributing to pollution. By upholding local bans and standing firm against legal challenges, California’s cities and counties showed that the public interest in reducing waste and protecting the environment outweighs corporate interests seeking to block change.

2014 - 2016: SB 270 - California's First Statewide Single-Use Plastic Bag Ban and Prop 67

In an attempt to mitigate this easily preventable form of plastic pollution, Senate Bill 270 (Padilla, De Leon, Lara, Chapter 850, Statutes of 2014) was adopted by the Legislature and signed by Governor Jerry Brown. Senate Bill 270 (SB 270) established a statewide ban on the distribution of single-use plastic grocery bags at most stores in 2014. It was the culmination of a 5 year effort that included the adoption of hundreds of local bag bans and the support of local governments, environmental groups, grocers, retailers and labor organizations.

SB 270 prohibited the distribution of single-use plastic bags at grocery, drug, and convenience stores and required that reusable bags have a minimum 10 cent fee.

Reusable bags made from 40% recycled polyethylene have a lower footprint than ANY single-use bag after as few as 8 uses. By law they are mandated to be able to be used 125 times. They use 50% less energy, have 40% less impact on GHG emissions and solid waste resources, and use 30% less water.

SB 270 was signed into law in 2014, but soon after out-of-state plastic bag manufacturers challenged the measure.

A still from the SB 270 press conference. From left to right: Senator Kevin De Leon, Senator Alex Padilla, CAW Executive Director Mark Murray.

**Proposition 65 vs Proposition 67 – Industry vs Environment**

*Right: Political Advertisements from the CAW Archives*

Immediately after SB 270 was signed, out-of-state plastic bag manufacturers spent more than $3 million on a paid signature gathering effort to qualify a referendum for the November 2016 ballot for voters to decide its fate. This postponement of the law resulted in the continued distribution of more than 192 million single-use plastic bags every week.

The plastics industry garnered enough signatures to place Prop 65 of the November 8, 2016 ballot. They intended to repeal the law by running a deceptive campaign.

SB 270 was meant to be phased in over time, but the referendum effectively put the SB 270’s implementation on hold until November 9, 2016.

Listen to our Executive Director, Mark Murray, speak about the 2016 referendum in an NPR interview.

To fight against the Prop 65, CAW, along with a strong coalition of environmental organizations like Heal the Bay, Surfrider Foundation, and Environment California supported and helped run the campaign to a “YES” vote on Prop 67.

Image of the CAW team that worked to get Prop 67 passed. From left to right: Lanh Nguyen, Nick Lapis, Theresa Bui, Melissa Romero, Mark Murray, Genevieve Abedon. From CAW archives.

Ultimately, CAW and an immense coalition of environmentalists worked to uphold the bag ban prevailed with the Yes on 67 campaign. California voters approved the referendum vote of SB 270 by a 53.27% affirmative vote, proving that environmental values can't be bought out by out of state special interest groups.

Impact of COVID-19 on California’s Bag Ban

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Newsom signed an executive order on April 23, 2020 to lift the 10 cent charge on single-use bags, effective for 60 days. While the Governor’s executive order in no way prohibited reusable bags, some stores took this step on their own during the height of the pandemic.

Thicker plastic bags exempt from SB 270. Image from CAW.

While the use of reusable grocery bags was never linked to any virus transmission, CAW had no objection to the intent of these actions at that time. When customers and store employees follow best practices as outlined in CAL-OSHA Health and safety guidance for grocery stores, the use of reusable bags remained safe and beneficial (environmentally and economically). According to a study from the New England Journal of Medicine, the COVID-19 virus showed to last longer on plastic than any other material. Despite these findings, the COVID-19 pandemic marked a sharp rise in the usage of thicker, so called “reusable” plastic bags.

Consumer surveys conducted by Alameda County Waste Management Authority (Stopwaste.org) echoed the change, showing that consumers requiring a store-provided bag went from 81% before the ban to just 30%-40%, with better than 60% bringing their own reusable bags (or not requiring a bag). But in the post-COVID era, those numbers reversed, with 50-53% requiring a store-provided bag and those bringing their own reusable bag dropping to 43%. And increasingly those store-provided bags were the thicker plastic bags exempted under SB 270 as a ‘reusable’ bag.

2024: It’s Time to #BanTheBag for Good

By 2021, CalRecycle waste data documented a substantial increase (108%) in the disposal of plastic bags in the residential waste stream compared to 2018, and even surpassing 2014 (pre-ban) levels.

SB 1053 (Blakespear, Chapter 453, Statutes of 2024) was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom, replacing SB 270. As of Jan 1, 2026, stores are prohibited to provide ‘thicker’ plastic bags at check stands as a ‘reusable’ bag. Only paper bags will be offered for sale/distribution at check stand.

FIN: Paper Only at Checkout

With the passage of SB 1053, the foul scourge of plastic bags was vanquished, banished to the annals of history! Balance was restored to the Golden State, the people rejoiced, and nature’s bounty flourished once more.