Opinion: Politicians Are Finally Fixing California's Idiotic Plastic Bag Ban

Photo byIllustration by the author via Midjourney

California's plastic bag ban is incredibly stupid.

The current ban, which went into effect back in 2014, says that stores can't give out single-use plastic bags at checkout stands.

No wrapping your groceries in petroleum distillates, Californians!

The problem with the original ban is that it left open a glaring loophole. Although stores couldn't hand out single-use bags, they could hand out plastic bags designed to survive multiple uses.

So what did clever stores do? They started to hand out slightly thicker plastic bags, and pretended they were re-usable. And they had to nerve to charge us 10 cents for these new "improved" bags!

Photo byIllustration by the author via Midjourney

That led to some really idiotic situations. My flimsy plastic Target bag claims that I can re-use it 125 times, which is the standard for California's current ban.

125 times!

Can you imagine getting a plastic shopping bag at Target--not the more expensive sewn ones, mind you, but a slightly thicker version of a traditional shopping bag--and then re-using it every day for four months?

Photo byGado Images

You're even supposed to be able to wash these "re-usable" bags. Who in their right mind would do that?

Instead, what most people would do is pay for these bags (which contain more plastic then the original plastic bags we got pre-ban), use them once, and throw them away.

The result? Californians are actually using more single-use plastic after the 2014 ban than before it! Usage has increased 47% from 2014 to 2022, because the new bags are thicker.

It's a great example of a bad policy that turned out to cause more harm than good.

Now, legislators are gearing up to ban all plastic bags at checkout stands starting in 2026--even the supposedly "re-usable ones."

To which I say, good.

If you're going to ban something, at least go ahead and ban it. I'll use a paper bag, which I prefer anyway.

Don't pretend to ban something, and then actually create a loophole that allows companies to use more of that something, AND to charge customers more for it.

Now, if only our politicians would remove that dumb 10 cent bag charge, we'd be set. Don't hold your breath, folks.

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