As you make your first grocery store run of the new year, you may notice something different – a change we have worked toward for years Plastic bags are finally gone from grocery store checkouts!
This week, California’s updated plastic bag ban officially goes into effect, cutting off a major source of needless, single-use plastic pollution and delivering on a decision Californians first made nearly a decade ago. This victory didn’t happen overnight, but we’re excited to see this great step forward to reduce plastic waste. Don’t forget your reusable bag when you head to the store this year!
Check out our history on the issue below.
From 2009-2013 we worked alongside other coalition partners to pass local bans on plastic grocery bags. Seeing bags littering the sides of highways, or images of a plastic bag floating in our oceans impacting wildlife, tapped into shared values among Californians. Nothing we use for a few minutes should pollute our planet for hundreds of years. That common sense approach to plastic waste helped secure local bans in 150 California cities and counties, and ultimately paved the way to a statewide bag ban in 2014.
Around 2020, plastic bag waste was again on the rise. CALPIRG’s report found that plastic bag companies started producing thicker, so-called reusable plastic bags, which were not getting recycled and rarely truly reused. We knew it was time to fix the bag ban, and improve the law.
After a big campaign to engage community members off campus, educate students on campus, build support from business owners, we were able to first pass a better bag ban in both LA and Berkeley, and finally won on the statewide level in 2024!
Thank you to everyone who has supported this campaign, and our other organizing efforts over the years. We couldn’t have done it without you.
Cheers to another year of social change!
Jake Twomey
CALPIRG Students Board Chair