California Single Use Bag Ban

[rwsandiego]

I suspect it takes less energy to make one plastic or paper bag than to wash and sterilize the reusable bag....the massive amounts of water that has to be heated to sanitize, and the toxic chemicals (like chlorine bleach and detergents) used to clean the bag.

Why would someone need to sterilize a reusable bag? Simply spraying it down with all-purpose cleaner (method, Ecover, and Ecos all make "natural" cleaners and Whole Foods, Sprouts, and the Albertsons banners all sell their own versions) and wiping it out would be sufficient. Not many people sterilize their toothbrush and that goes right in the mouth. Additionally, the single-use plastic and paper bags are not sterile.

...Personally I do think reusable bags are unsanitary and it seems like I always have to "help" bag my groceries when I bring my own bags to speed things up, so it's a downmarket experience. ...

The folks at my local VONS, Target, Sprouts, Ralphs and Whole Foods as well as the baggers at the Fry's and Safeway stores I've shopped in Tempe and Phoenix do not seem to have that issue. Now, in the weeks after the bag ban took effect my local VONS ran out of the sturdy reusable bags, requiring shoppers who did not bring their own bags to buy a flimsy one. THAT pissed me off, as I wanted to buy a new bag.

[storewanderer]

I haven't been to a Trader Joe's since the ban took effect -- they used to use only paper bags (never plastic) for which they did not charge-- are they now required to charge for them?

Yes, all of the stores have to charge. Even the ones like Trader Joe's and Whole Foods who previously did not charge for paper bags and did not offer plastic bags.

Thank the California Grocer's Association and the majority of the monetary contributions from Safeway/Albertsons for that "mandatory" minimum 10 cent paper bag charge. I believe it will come back to bite these grocers with lost efficiency costs that exceed the profit from bag sales.

Or they can just raise the price for the bag to get the money they want...

[storewanderer]

http://www.kcra.com/article/norcal-city ... an/8493531

Looks like this city is still not having a mandatory plastic bag ban. This also would make it appear that cities which previously passed a resolution that banned plastic bags but left it "up to the store" about whether or not to charge a fee for paper bags (such as Grass Valley, South Lake Tahoe, and Manhattan Beach) would still have the option to charge or not to charge since those cities passed a resolution prior to the statewide law.

I think this law is a joke. The plastic bags I paid 10 cents for at Ralphs are so thick they must be 20 times thicker than the old thin flimsy bags. They are actually very nice bags, I think they might even be worth the 10 cents I paid for them. In places like San Diego and Temecula at least 75% of customers I observed are buying bags and most seem to be buying the plastic. The environmental groups were duped and there is more plastic being given than ever, it is just now the customers have to pay money for it. What a joke.

[Alpha8472]

Definitely there is more plastic bag waste than before. The bags are thicker and now there is more plastic in the environment.

I was at the former flagship Safeway store in Dublin, California near the former Safeway corporate office. The store was having supply problems and they only had unbranded brown paper bags without handles. It was very sad. No Safeway logo and no handles. People were complaining left and right about paying for flimsy paper bags with no handles.

Angry customers, more shoplifting/theft, more plastic in the environment, slower checkout, etc. What a mess.

I am pretty sure Home Depot and other stores that do not sell food can still can give out free thin plastic bags.

[veteran+]

Strange!

I am not seeing ANY thick plastic bags (that are purchased) ANYWHERE.

Not in Los Angeles, San Diego, Palm Springs, Malibu, Laguna, etc.

I still see the standard free thin plastic but NO thick plastic.

[storewanderer]

At Vons, Stater, and Albertsons they were selling super thick plastic bags with a round handle (reminds me of what mall stores give out) that the cashier has to open then put on top of the counter then fill the bag.

At Ralphs, Seafood City, and at some independent I went to (I think it was Major Market in Escondido), they had what LOOK like the old thin T-Shirt plastic bags but are actually super thick plastic bags that are designed like a T-Shirt bag and sit on the old bag racks at the store just like a T-Shirt bag so they are quick and easy to fill up. From a distance I thought those are the thin plastic bags. But no, they are actually 10 cent bags and are super thick and according to the bag they are good up to 125 times and should be washed with warm water and soap.

I am a little confused by this because all of my prior experience with bag bans mostly in NorCal but also in some parts of SoCal, involved paper bags or reusable bags... it looks to me like the plastic bag people have figured out how to keep selling bags and there is a loophole in this law that allows their super thick bags since they are good for up to 125 reuses.

Some additional research on this has shown me that these super thick plastic bags are how retailers in Chicago have responded to the old single use plastic bag ban there which did not impose a fee on paper bags initially ( the fee thing changes as soon they will be having a bag tax).

This whole thing of charging for bags is absurd, many people have been fooled and in the end the retailers are the only ones who will even possibly come out ahead on this. I am not even sure the retailers will come out ahead as it creates some real inefficiencies and the sanitation issue.

[CalItalian]

Californian's DID NOT approve a statewide single use plastic bag ban. The legislature did that in 2014 (signed by Gov. Brown on Sept. 30, 2014...and was to go into effect on July 1, 2015). It was blocked when enough signatures were collected to put a ballot initiative TO VETO the legislature's vote on the ballot. Californians just elected not to block the legislative vote, though (unfortunately). That is why it went into effect immediately. California Proposition 67, Plastic Bag Ban Veto Referendum was the name of the ballot measure. https://ballotpedia.org/California_Prop ... dum_(2016)

Ralphs in Hawthorne is selling the thin Ralphs bags that were free before the ban for 10 cents each. I saw them yesterday.

Ralphs in Manhattan Beach still gives paper bags for free but the CVS next door now (within the last 10 days) started charging for their thick plastic bags with handles. I hoarded them over the last year since I expected this to be the outcome. I'd take 4 to 6 of them for every one bag I needed at self-checkout.

[storewanderer]

It is my understanding it does not go into effect until the election results are certified (should happen in the next few days). I think this is why so many grocery selling retailers such as drug stores and dollar/99 cent stores, and some of the ethnic stores (except the major grocers, Target, and Wal Mart, who are clearly just in this for the 10 cent fees) have continued to hand out the thin plastic bags as recently as yesterday free of charge. Or they are just using up supplies... or they can't get enough compliant bags due to the demand currently being so high.

[CalItalian]

It is my understanding it does not go into effect until the election results are certified (should happen in the next few days). I think this is why so many grocery selling retailers such as drug stores and dollar/99 cent stores, and some of the ethnic stores (except the major grocers, Target, and Wal Mart, who are clearly just in this for the 10 cent fees) have continued to hand out the thin plastic bags as recently as yesterday free of charge. Or they are just using up supplies... or they can't get enough compliant bags due to the demand currently being so high.

99 Cents store in El Segundo was still giving their crappy free plastic bags as of today.

[storewanderer]

I think the results should be certified soon. I assume the 99 cents Only stores, Dollar Tree, CVS, and Rite Aid are all covered by this ban... all were still giving thin bags out in San Diego Sunday and Monday.

I wondered why they were not so eager like the grocers to implement the ban... they all have experience with bag bans already in various markets so why weren't they so gung ho to implement it a day or two after the election?

Also noticed yesterday Albertsons was only charging 10 cents for a plastic bag (previously Albertsons/Vons were charging 15 cents for plastic but 10 cents for paper; wonder how that worked on self checkout which just asks how many bags you used and does not distinguish bag type). The customer in front of me bought plastic bags and the cashier scanned the code for it and it showed up on the screen as 10 cents and "you save 5 cents."