Plastic bags will be completely banned in California grocery stores by 2026, thanks to a new law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday.

The thin, single-use plastic bags commonly seen in grocery stores in other states have been banned in California for a decade. However, the 2014 law, which was reaffirmed by state voters in 2016, allowed stores to continue offering thicker plastic bags that have since become widespread across supermarkets in the state.

State Senator Catherine Blakespear, one of the authors of Senate Bill 1053, referred to this allowance as a “loophole” that the new law aims to close.

“SB 1053 honors the original intent of the single-use bag ban passed 10 years ago, which allowed stores to sell thicker plastic carryout bags that were considered reusable and met certain recyclability standards,” Blakespear said in a press release. “But in reality, almost none of those bags are reused or recycled, and they end up in landfills or polluting the environment.”

The new law is set to take effect on January 1, 2026. From that date, shoppers who don’t bring their own bags will only be able to receive paper bags. Additionally, by 2028, all paper bags must be made from 50% recyclable material.

In her press release, Blakespear, a Democrat from Encinitas, cited data from the state’s Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) indicating that California’s single-use plastic bag ban did not have the desired effect.

She noted that in the year the single-use bag ban was implemented, Californians disposed of 157,385 tons of plastic bags. By 2022, that number had risen to 231,072 tons — a 47% increase. The release also pointed out that while most plastic bags are discarded within 12 minutes, they can persist in landfills or oceans for up to 1,000 years.