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California is phasing out the single-use plastic bags commonly used to protect produce and meats from being damaged or contaminating other foods in a shopper’s cart.
"It helps consumers be a lot more educated about which products that claim compostability are actually compostable," Legislative Director at Californians Against Waste Nicole Kurian told KGO last week. "[It] helps them collect their organics, so this is a win-win bill on multiple different sides."
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the bill into law at the end of September, which will require grocery stores across the state to phase out the small bags, typically found on produce and meat aisles in grocery stores, by Jan. 1, 2025.
California is the first state in the nation to phase out such bags, according to The Seattle Times. The traditional bags will be replaced with recycled paper bags or bags that are compostable.
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Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at a news conference in Oakland, California. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
"This kind of plastic film is not recyclable. It’s a contaminant in almost any bin you put it into," said Nick Lapis, director of advocacy for Californians Against Waste, told The Seattle Times.
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"It flies around landfills and flies out of trucks. It gets stuck on gears at recycling facilities. And it contaminates compost. It’s a problematic product we want to get rid of."
A customer places oranges into a plastic bag at a grocery store in Toronto on Wednesday, June 12, 2019. Justin Trudeau's government announced plans Monday to ban single-use plastics such as straws and plates in Canada. (Cole Burston/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The bill was opposed by the California Grocers Association, which sent a letter to the bill’s author, state Sen. Susan Talamantes Eggman, requesting grocery stores have until 2025 to switch to compostable bags instead of an original 2023 timeline. The request was granted.
"They play a pivotal role in protecting consumers from possible contamination and food illnesses that result from raw packaged meats touching other products," wrote Leticia Garcia, director of state government relations for California Grocers Association in the letter, The Seattle Times reported. "These bags also provide an additional layer of protection when breakables, like wine bottles, are placed in grocery bags with other products."
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The California Grocers Association told Fox News Digital on Tuesday, "now that the Governor has signed SB 1046, the grocery community is focused on preparing to comply with the new law by 2025."
"There are many moving pieces to navigate, mostly concerning how to source and scale compostable and recyclable pre-checkout bags for our shoppers in a supply chain environment that has not been without its challenges in the past few years."
"We appreciate Sen. Eggman’s understanding that while grocers support the state’s mission to be on the vanguard of environmental policymaking, we also need to set practical timelines for implementing large-scale change. Our hope is moving forward, we can rely on this new statewide template for pre-checkout bags because these issues are too important to leave to a patchwork approach," the statement added.
This picture shows a roll of plastic bags in a supermarket in Chiba. - From bento boxes to individually wrapped bananas, plastic reigns supreme in Japan. (MARTIN BUREAU/AFP via Getty Images)
The ban on the small plastic bags comes after California became the first state in the nation in 2016 to ban single-use plastic bags commonly found at check-out lanes at stores. Other states have since followed, including New Jersey and New York.
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New Jersey’s ban took effect in May of this year, and lawmakers are already looking to tweak the law as some shoppers report reusable bags are now piling up in their homes and often used just once.
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