According to a comprehensive report by the Global Times, in the future, when shopping in grocery stores, "paper bags or plastic bags" will no longer be a choice that California consumers need to make. According to the Associated Press on September 23, California Governor Newsom recently signed a new law that bans the use of plastic shopping bags in supermarkets and grocery stores. The bill will take effect from 2026.
According to reports, California actually passed a ban on plastic bags as early as 2014, prohibiting supermarkets and other consumer places from providing thin plastic bags, but allowing sellers to provide thick plastic bags that are said to be recyclable or reusable. However, environmentalists said that few people recycle or reuse these plastic bags. The California Public Interest Research Group said that the introduction of the new law finally realized the original intention of the "plastic ban", that is, a comprehensive "plastic ban".
According to reports, a state senator who supports the new law said that a study found that the number of plastic shopping bags discarded per person increased from 3.6 kilograms per year in 2004 to 5 kilograms per year in 2021, which shows that incomplete "plastic restrictions" cannot reduce the casual use and pollution of plastic bags at all.
The head of an environmental organization also expressed support for the new law, believing that the new ban "consolidates California's leading position in addressing the global plastic pollution crisis."
