No More ‘Paper or Plastic:’ Bring Your Own Bags to the Store Jan 1

I have been covering the “Paper or Plastic” game since George W. Bush was President. And it’s only gotten more ridiculous.

First California lawmakers banned paper bags because they “killed” trees – the ultimate renewable resource. They replaced paper with plastic bags, which they are now banning to go back to tree-killing paper bags. Or, you can carry your filthy multi-use cloth bags.

In 2009, when plastic bag bans were all the rage in cities around the country, and paper bags were considered tree killers, I reported in the Washington Examiner:

San Francisco’s ban on plastic bags has not provided the environmental results it expected. Anticipated environmental gains resulting from the ban were “nonexistent at best,” and the ban likely did more harm than good. Consumers just switched from single plastic to double paper bags; few consumers remembered reusable totes, which caused delays in checkout; and recycling bins were hard to find or nonexistent.

Additionally, A recent microbiological study found unacceptably high levels of bacterial yeast, mold and fecal bacteria counts reside in the reusable bags (nastysack.com).

The study found that 64 percent of the reusable bags tested were contaminated with some level of bacteria, and close to 30 percent had elevated bacterial counts higher than what’s considered safe for drinking water. Further, 40 percent of the bags had yeast or mold, and some of the bags had an unacceptable presence of fecal intestinal bacteria when there should have been zero.

They are only now realizing that their low-carbon footprint bag is also filled with nasty bacteria if not washed regularly. A recent microbiological study found unacceptably high levels of bacterial yeast, mold and fecal bacteria counts reside in the reusable bags (nastysack.com).

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. We hear this daily and see those orders nearly everywhere. Paper or plastic? Separate out your wet garbage and put it in another recyclable food bin. Separate bottles and cans. Compost.

Yet none of this has reduced landfills.

And banning plastic grocery bags does not reduce disposal and recycling costs, studies over the years have shown.

Yet California is banning plastic grocery bags entirely. And stupidly.

SB 270, a 2014 bill that was approved of by voters in 2016 as Proposition 67, banned all “one time use” plastic bags, and only allowed thicker plastic bags to be purchased in stores.

However, those thicker plastic bags are now also bad, and apparently now considered “single-use.” Lawmakers and the environmental lobby dubiously claim, “Single-use plastic bags are among the most insidious types of pollution and one of the most common items found on our beaches and waterways.”

Assembly Bill 2236 and Senate Bill 1053, authored by Assemblywoman Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda) and Senator Catherine Blakespear (D-Encinitas), propose to ban any kind of plastic bag at food stores and convenience stores. Both bills are an expansion of SB 270, which banned all “one time use” plastic bags, and only allowed thicker plastic bags to be purchased in stores.

Assemblywoman Bauer-Kahan and Senator Blakespear claimed studies found that most Californians were either not recycling those bags or were still using the thicker bags as one time only bags, despite being designed to be used multiple times. According to one state study cited by Blakespear, the amount of plastic shopping bags trashed per person grew from 8 pounds per year in 2014 to 11 pounds per year in 2021, despite the massive law change. Both lawmakers claim plastic bags are still causing environmental damage, and that a total ban is the only way to stop it. Some coastal cleanup surveys also found that volunteers have collected over 300,000 plastic grocery bags in the last three decades.

Only there are no links to those supposed studies. They also still claim many people dispose of plastic bags after just one or a few uses. Yet most people tell you they use plastic bags multiple times, for a myriad of uses.

Bauer-Kahan’s bill didn’t make the cut, but Blakespear’s SB 1053 was passed and signed into law by Gov. Newsom in 2024.

Eleven years ago in 2014, SB 270 by State Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima), and co-authored by Sen. President pro Tem Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles), and Sen. Ricardo Lara, (D-Los Angeles), banned the recyclable plastic bags and replaced them with heavier plastic bags, five times thicker. It has remained unclear how a significantly thicker plastic bag is better for the environment, other than the fact they can be used many more times than the flimsy plastic bags.

The California Legislature is stuck on stupid, and has been for a long time.

The environmental myths, exaggerations and misinformation that have been spread about plastic bags have led many to believe that plastic bags kill 100,000 sea mammals and one million seabirds each year. Each of the bill authors have used this emotional argument and trotted out the much-used photo of a turtle with plastic bag in its mouth as proof. Not only is the story about the turtle not true, The London Times exposed the dead sea mammals and seabirds as a myth based on a typographical error. The original report mentioned discarded fishing tackle including fishing nets, not plastic bags. David Santillo, a marine biologist at Greenpeace, told The Times: “It’s very unlikely that many animals are killed by plastic bags. The evidence shows just the opposite.”

Enforcing litter laws would go much further to helping the environment.