New law will phase out plastic produce bags in grocery stores statewide

We’re moving the Golden State beyond wasteful single-use plastic, one commonsense policy at a time.

At the end of California’s 2022 legislative session last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a key step toward tackling the plastic pollution flooding our communities and environment. Backed by CALPIRG and Environment California, SB 1046 will phase out the use of single-use plastic produce bags on grocery store shelves statewide — a move that will curb one of the most common, pervasive and unnecessary forms of plastic waste.

“From leading the charge to pass California’s first-in-the-nation plastic grocery bag ban back in 2014, to this year building support for even bolder plastic-reduction policies, we at CALPIRG are proud to be a part of these commonsense steps toward a future will less waste and less pollution,” said CALPIRG State Director Jenn Engstrom.

“Plastic pollution continues to clog up our ocean and waterways. Nothing we use for only a few minutes should pollute our environment for thousands of years,” added Environment California State Director Laura Deehan. “This is the type of action we need to curb single-use plastic waste in our irreplaceable open spaces.”

Next legislative session, we’ll continue building momentum for a state ban on another harmful form of plastic waste: the unnecessary single-use packaging that comes with our online shopping deliveries.

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