Sacramento Report: Plastic Bag Ban 2.0 | Voice of San Diego

Sign up for The Morning Report with all your must-read news for the day.

Over the past 10 years California learned a lesson in recycling; if you want to reduce plastic waste, don’t produce more of it.

That may seem obvious on the face of it, but manufacturing and distributing thicker plastic shopping bags was the fatal flaw in a failed decade-long bag ban.

An updated bag ban introduced by state Sen. Catherine Blakespear, D-Encinitas, is finally closing that loophole. Her law, SB 1053 prohibits the use of most disposable plastic bags at retail stores.

Sacramento ReportHow lawmakers are tackling San Diego issues at the state Capitol.​

Browse all newsletters at vosd.org/newsletters

“I care deeply about reducing single use plastics,” Blakespear told me. “These plastic bags are a scourge, and they have bothered me in my own local markets for years.”

The new law has drawn national headlines, with the New York Times and Washington Post picking up the story. Blakespear said she saw news reports on the ban flash across a billboard during a trip to New York City.

The success of California’s bag ban 2.0 reflects growing evidence of the hazards of plastic pollution. Recent studies have found microplastic particles in human tissue and fluids including brains, arteries, placentas and breast milk.

“Our dependence on plastic is contaminating our bodies, our food chain and all of our ecosystems,” Blakespear said.

How did we get here? In 2014, California became the first state in the country to pass a plastic bag ban, with a law that was hailed as a ground-breaking precedent.

Except it allowed stores to sell bags made with thicker plastic for 10 cents, under the premise that they are reusable and recyclable. But consumers generally treated them as disposable and most ended up in landfills.

Still, many shoppers made the switch to durable bags made of woven material, Blakespear noted. That is, until the pandemic sparked health fears about the potential to spread the virus through reusable bags. Plastic bag waste dropped slightly from 157,395 tons in 2014 to 139,810 in 2018, but then rocketed up to 231,072 tons in 2021, a report by the consumer advocacy group CALPIRG found.

“I remember when the first plastic bag ban was passed, and I was a mayor at the time and thought that was great,” Blakespear said. “Then COVID hit, and the effort to have people bring reusable bags faltered.”

What the new bag ban does: The updated bag ban takes effect in 2026, allowing retailers to use up existing inventory of plastic bags, Blakespear said.

After that it bans single use plastic bags, except for those designed to protect unwrapped food, such as produce bags. It permits stores to distribute paper bags, but they will have to be made from at least half recycled paper starting in 2028.

And it allows retailers to sell reusable bags that meet a long list of criteria. They must have a handle, be designed for at least 125 uses, hold at least 15 liters and be machine washable or able to be disinfected. They’re required to have a tag stating the name of the manufacturer and where they were made, along with recycling instructions. And they cannot contain lead or any other toxic material.

How did it pass? Plastic manufacturers resisted the last bag ban and their opposition led to the loophole allowing thicker bags. Plastic industry organizations fought this one too. But their opposition didn’t seem to weigh heavily with state lawmakers, who passed the law by wide margins.

A number of grocery organizations opposed the original bag ban 10 years ago, but this time they were on board. Their support helped close the deal, Blakespear said.

“One of the reasons why the bill was able to be successful was support from the grocery stores,” she said. “When I asked them why are you supporting this, the answer was, ‘we are over the bag wars.’”

Then there was the tag team strategy involving both houses. As Blakespear introduced the bill in the state Senate, Asm. Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, D-San Ramon, sponsored its counterpart in the Assembly. The two lawmakers sought to demonstrate broad support and also create a fallback in case one bill failed. It turned out they both passed, so Blakespear took it to the finish line across the governor’s desk.

She said the law aligns with her philosophy and her constituents’ goals.

“I represent a coastal community that cares about the ocean and marine life and the coastal environment in general,” she said. “This bill is right in line with my personal values and also my district.”

City attorney candidate Heather Ferbert is taking aim at her opponent Brian Maienschein’s record on tobacco. In a campaign email this week Ferbert pointed to an independent expenditure committee blandly named “Protect Neighborhoods.” It got $25,000 from Phillip Morris on Sept. 30, and spent $29,000 for digital, text and social media advertising on Maienschein days later, on Oct. 3. And she called out his opposition to 2016 bills to prohibit secondhand smoke in workplaces and tax cigarettes. I asked Maienschein what he made of the criticism.

“I don’t know what Heather Ferbert is talking about… and neither does she,” he responded, noting that the independent committee does its own thing and can’t coordinate with his campaign. He pointed out that he voted in favor of bills to raise the age for tobacco purchases, ban flavored tobacco, tax e-cigarettes and fine smoking on beaches.

During the primary for the 75th Assembly District, Republican candidates Carl DeMaio and Andrew Hayes battled to prove who was Trumpier, dispatching reams of flyers depicting themselves happily standing with the former president. Now, with the general election approaching and Democratic votes at play, the two opponents and their supporters are making a bid for the middle.

Our editor Scott Lewis recently wrote about how DeMaio’s committees funded a “Progressive California Voter Guide,” calling on voters to “DEFEND CHOICE” and slamming Hayes as a “MAGA Extremist.” This week a mailer funded by California Professional Firefighters denounced DeMaio as a “MAGA Republican” and blasted his record on death and disability benefits for fallen firefighters and police.

Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.

Deborah writes the Sacramento Report and covers San Diego and Inland Empire politics for Voice of San Diego, in partnership with CalMatters. She formerly... More by Deborah Sullivan Brennan