“Paper or plastic” will no longer be an option at grocery store checkout lines in California, following a new law signed by Governor Gavin Newsom that prohibits all plastic shopping bags.

California previously banned thin plastic bags at supermarkets and other stores, but customers could still buy thicker plastic bags that were marketed as reusable and recyclable. The new law, approved by state legislators last month, will take effect in 2026, meaning shoppers who don’t bring their own bags will simply be asked if they want a paper bag.

State Senator Catherine Blakespear, a supporter of the bill, noted that people were not effectively reusing or recycling plastic bags. She referenced a state study indicating that the amount of plastic shopping bags discarded per person increased from 8 pounds (3.6 kilograms) per year in 2004 to 11 pounds (5 kilograms) in 2021.

Blakespear, a Democrat from Encinitas, stated that the previous bag ban enacted a decade ago failed to reduce overall plastic use. “We are literally choking our planet with plastic waste,” she remarked in February. The environmental nonprofit Oceana praised Newsom for signing the bill, emphasizing its role in protecting California’s coastline, marine life, and communities from single-use plastic grocery bags.

Christy Leavitt, Oceana’s plastics campaign director, stated that the new ban reinforces California’s leadership in addressing the global plastic pollution crisis.

According to the environmental advocacy group Environment America Research & Policy Center, twelve states, including California, already have some form of statewide plastic bag ban, with hundreds of cities across 28 states implementing their own bans.

California’s statewide plastic bag ban was initially passed by the Legislature in 2014 and confirmed by voters in a 2016 referendum.

The California Public Interest Research Group stated that this new law fulfills the original intent of the 2014 ban. “Plastic bags create pollution and break down into microplastics that contaminate drinking water and pose health risks,” said the group’s director, Jenn Engstrom. “Californians voted to ban plastic grocery bags almost a decade ago, but the law clearly needed an update. With the Governor’s signature, California has finally banned plastic bags in grocery checkout lanes for good.”

As mayor of San Francisco in 2007, Newsom signed the nation’s first plastic bag ban.

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