1 year ago
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ORINDA, Calif. -- An effort to prohibition the usage of each integrative bags successful market stores successful California is moving forward.
AB 2236 and SB 1053, an identical acceptable of bills, passed each House connected May 21 with bipartisan support.
Lawmakers present person until the extremity of August to walk 1 of the bills. Only 1 needs to walk successful bid to spell to Governor Newsom's table for last approval.
This would fortify an existing prohibition that archetypal took effect astir 10 years ago.
Nearly a decennary has passed since California made past arsenic the archetypal authorities successful the state to prohibition single-use integrative bags.
"We conscionable cognize that the instrumentality isn't working," Jenn Engstrom, State Director of CALPIRG said.
The integrative manufacture claims these heavy-duty integrative bags tin beryllium reused up to 125 times. So ABC7 News enactment them to the test.
Engstrom, State Director of the California Public Interest Research Group, worked connected the archetypal integrative container ban.
She says, portion integrative discarded did spell down for a while, the pandemic changed everything.
"People were getting a small tense astir bringing successful their ain bags, and past we conscionable saw this resurgence of integrative successful our stores and that's erstwhile we truly saw these thicker integrative bags amusement up successful ample numbers," she said.
A loophole successful the instrumentality allowed market stores to proceed selling thicker integrative bags considered to beryllium "reusable" for astatine slightest 125 times.
It's thing ABC7's Lyanne Melendez enactment to the test past year.
"The world is that radical are not truly reusing them truthful they're ending up arsenic trash," Engstrom said.
According to information from CalRecycle, the magnitude of integrative bags discarded per idiosyncratic increased.
It reached an all-time precocious successful 2021 with much than 230,000 tons thrown distant statewide.
Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan of Orinda is moving connected 1 of the 2 identical bills aiming to alteration that.
"We are moving to 100% insubstantial bags successful market stores successful 2026," Bauer-Kahan said.
A large alteration is successful the works for California market stores. The single-use integrative bags utilized for nutrient oregon nutrient are by instrumentality being phased out.
She was inspired to prohibition the usage of the thicker "reusable" bags successful market stores by her teenage son.
"We unrecorded on the beauteous creeks of Orinda and we person a market store close connected the creek and helium started to announcement that successful our quality areas, the trash and the bags from the market store are ending up successful our waterways and we would spot it," she said.
Though the companies that marque these integrative bags reason this effort.
The American Recyclable Plastic Bag Alliance says "bans unit stores and shoppers to power to different products that are much expensive... with nutrient prices continuing to ascent from near-record inflation, these accrued costs volition beryllium passed on to consumers successful the signifier of higher prices."
If passed, shoppers volition inactive person a insubstantial option.
But it volition besides outgo astir a dime and they'll person to beryllium made of astatine slightest 50 percent postconsumer recycled material.
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