Paper bags are coming back.
Starting Jan. 1, 2026, when you buy items at California grocery stores and most other retailers you will no longer have a plastic bag option.
Instead, you can purchase a paper shopping bag for 10 cents.
Or you can use your own shopping bag or hand carry what you buy out of the store.
The 2014 banning of single use plastic bag and the switch to reusable plastic bags that at first cost a dime in a bid to reduce the solid waste stream has been exposed for what it was — wishful thinking.
California never had a facility that could recycle plastic bags.
It also assumed somehow human nature would not come into play.
The thicker plastic bags designed to be reusable never were really reused due to the habits of most people.
In 2021 based on a Cal Recycle audit of what is buried at landfills, every Californian tossed out the equivalent of 11 pounds of plastic bags.
It is a stunning per capita amount given the feather-like weight of the flimsy thin low-polyethylene bags banned statewide in 2014.
Back in 2004 when there were 35 million Californians, a full decade before the ban, we buried 147,039 tons of plastic bags or 8 pounds per capita,
By 2021 when there were 39 million Californians, seven years after the ban went into effect, we buried 11 pounds per capita.
That is not a misprint.
It’s not that we haven’t cut down somewhat on grocery store plastic bags.
The problem was the flimsier ones that were free weighed a lot less than the thicker bags designed to be reused.
And while a lot of people have shifted to their own shopping bags, those that stuck with the store bags were — after the ban on single use plastic bags was imposed — were using replacements weighing at least 10 times as much.
That meant even if the reusable bags were used more than once, if they weren’t reused 10 or so times before being tossed the ban was bound to generate more waste.
The bag issue does not really address the plastic waste created with the shift to online of 20 percent of retail purchases.
We have increased the use of plastic such as bubble packaging and such with online shopping.
Then there was the faculty assumption mandating a “high” bag fee would spur people reuse the thicker place bags.
Everyone pays the dime except those using SNAP benefits to buy groceries. The state mandates that the minimum 10 cent they require retailers to charge be waived for SNAP customers.
That means plastic bags that cost grocery stores around a nickel each are resold at the state required minimum of 10 cents.
The theory was most people would refrain from being nickeled and dimed to death. In reality, it is one of the most profitable transactions for a grocery store.
The landfill impact of plastic that can take upwards of 1,000 years to break down is just one dimension of the plastic issue
The amount of flimsy plastic bags being picked up from California’s coastline during annual clean up days dropped initial but has resurged in recent years.
It went from 65,716 bags in 2010 down to 24,602 bags in 2016, two years after the ban went into effect.
The number was at 26,460 bags in 2022.
There are still tons of light weight plastic that make their way into landfills as is evidenced by the 20 to 30 foot high mesh fences surrounding the modern-day version of dumps that are used to prevent plastic bags and et al to be scattered all over creation via the wind.
The bottom line of the bag ban is simple.
It did clean up the environment somewhat when it comes to littering and posing hazards to wildlife.
But it increased significantly the amount we bury in landfills where it will take hundreds upon hundreds of years to break down.
And if you fork over 50 cents a week or so for bags because you forget to take your own with you to the store, you contribute $26 to retailers’ bottom line each year that is negated by another wonderful ballot measure that decriminalized shoplifting.
It is against that backdrop Governor Gavin Newsom signed California State Senator Catherine Blakespear’s bill to end the expensive charade.
It is clear there is more to the issue of plastic bags than just the ones that are a dime a pop at the grocery store checkout stand.
All of the online shipping to doorsteps increases paper-based products required to package purchases. But it also substantially increases the use of plastic.
Granted, the low and hard grade polyethylene online retailing uses is not in the shape of what you bag your stuff with in the form of the checkout stand offerings at Walmart et al.
They tend to be sealed bags.
And quite often, there will be a bunch of smaller sealed bags inside a larger sealed bag.
Cardboard and non-corrugated packing that is paperboard — think most shoe boxes — are easier to recycle.
There is an effective process in place. We just need to do it.
And that means recycling following the rules and not misconceptions so we don’t render what we place in recycling carts impossible to recycle because of contamination.
There is a process to recycling polyethylene. But it is tedious and somewhat cumbersome.
Add the fact that the chain gets broken along the way with studies showing they end up being landfilled anyway due likely to the sheer volume that must be accumulated in terms of weight to make the process work.
That makes plastic bags extremely problematic when it comes to recycling.
It is clear that online shopping concerns need to keep finding ways to reduce packaging without damaging products they ship to avoid more stuff buried at landfills sooner than later.
Traditional shopping bags — and not just those at grocery stores — are the proverbial low-hanging fruit.
They can be eliminated.
Paper bags can be used.
While they have their own environmental drawbacks, paper bags don’t take a couple of centuries to decompose.
Besides, real reusable bags are working out just fine for a lot of people.
It requires a change of habits and some getting used to, and that’s
about it.
This column is the opinion of editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Bulletin or 209 Multimedia. He can be reached at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
