Officials implement total ban on common grocery store item that will force customers to rethink shopping habits: 'We'll get used to it'

A new law in California has yet to officially take effect, but as Sacramento's KXTV reported, some grocery stores started complying early.

Senate Bill 1053, adopted in 2024, is a plastic bag ban, but it's not the first such legislation in the state. California was the first state to introduce a ban on plastic bags in 2014, but loopholes in the original law ultimately worsened plastic pollution in several respects.

SB 1053 was structured to provide retail establishments a little more than a year to work through their supply of noncompliant plastic bags before it takes effect Jan. 1.

Plastic bag bans aren't new. Bangladesh was the first to restrict them in 2002, after officials determined that they were obstructing drainage systems and exacerbating floods.

In January 2024, the World Economic Forum highlighted research demonstrating the efficacy of plastic bag bans in the United States. In three states and two cities, researchers found that 6 billion fewer plastic bags were used each year.

Environment America, one of the groups involved with the research, created a location-based calculator so visitors can see how effective plastic bag bans are or would be in a user's area. As the group noted, plastic bag bans aren't just about reducing unsightly litter.

Plastic bags often end up in waterways and oceans, where they pose an entanglement risk to wildlife. However, plastic bags and plastic itself are terrible for human health, too.

Even when plastic is designed to be single-use, like grocery bags, it can take centuries to break down. 

Judith Enck, founder of Beyond Plastic and a former Environmental Protection Agency official, has repeatedly emphasized that every piece of plastic ever made is "still with us today on the planet," per the "Factually! with Adam Conover" podcast. In addition to covering the planet in plastic waste, the substance also sheds harmful microplastics.

Microplastics were only identified in 2004, and since then, researchers have identified significant adverse impacts on the environment, wildlife, and humans. Exposure to microplastics has been linked to serious health risks, including heart attacks and some cancers. 

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KXTV visited a grocery store in Lodi on Saturday to talk to shoppers as plastic bags became scarce.

"Paper is cool, but it breaks. … I'd rather have the plastic bag, honestly," said Enrique Flores. However, Chris Forest, another shopper, was happy with reusable grocery bags.

"After the inconvenience, we'll get used to it. When I get the plastic bags, I just throw them out, so I think the law is a good idea," Forest said.

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