That is such an idiotic loophole there is no way in hell it wasn't bought by lobbyists

this isnt just california. they rolled out these thicker bags everywhere so they are no longer 'single use' except to the people that use them.

"banned..."

They never banned them. They just made people have to pay for them, and forced them to be made differently. The new bags are better than before; but they're still plastic and most people aren't re-using them.

They did this in Chicago too and everyone immediately saw that it wasn't about reducing plastic, but about getting more money to the city. If they actually cared about plastic, they would actually ban it. And you know what, It's not hard at all. Think about what people were using in the 70s before plastic on everything was common. Paper grocery bags, wax paper at the deli counter, cardboard cartons for small fruit like blueberries, lettuce and potatoes laying bare on shelves instead of wrapped up in plastic bundles, beverages in cans and glass bottles. If they could do it, we can do it too.

The idea of reusable bags was great, but they operated the same as the old plastic bags. They're thicker, more durable, but most people don't care enough to bring back their old bags, and will just buy new ones because it's convenient. Speaking from personal experience.

Also, different places have different protocols, sometimes they make you bag your own groceries if you bring your own bags. Again, some people won't bother.

They did this in the UK and it worked. The Cali law just has dumb ass loopholes in it.

now plastic bags are no longer free - but honestly $0.15/bag is basically free so most folks still toss them out.

Ireland has a plastic bag levy of 22c per bag. Most supermarkets don't even bother selling single use bags any more. If you want to buy a bag, then your choice is a thicker reusable bag or a "bag for life" that most supermarkets will charge you 70c or more for.

I suppose some people might throw them away but more likely they hang onto them because they cost so much to begin with.

In some supermarkets like LIDL and Aldi it's also quite common for someone to grab an empty cardboard box that (the stores usually toss them in a big mesh bin) and use that to carry stuff away. These can be put into recycling.

There is also a drive to ban single use plastics like cutlery, straws, cups etc. Ireland also just imposed a refundable tax on plastic bottles and cans - supermarkets have machines that ingest returned containers and print out a credit slip.

Damn, some others countries successfully banned single-use plastic bags years ago, replacing them by re-usable thicker bags that you can buy, people are now accustomed to bring bags to go shopping.

Seems like californians have too much money or are very generous.

If only the bags were significantly more expensive people would actually start to care and reuse the bags. Where in from the bags cost the equivalent to 2-3 dollars. A lot of people started using fabric bags and reuse the thicker plastic bags many times. I can easily use the thick plastic grocery bags we have 20 times and the fabric ones I mainly use are over 5 years now and counting.

People are gonna be pissed when they find out about plastic water bottles.

Plastic bags need to be banned totally.

I just carry some of the thick ones in my car in the trunk and just bag there at the car. I fold them up and bring them to the car and leave them there next time I go out anywhere. A habit that is less common for me to forget to do now but I did forget all the time initially and would pay at the counter. I have an excess of them now though so even when I do forget to bring some down I have spares in the car. Less chance of forgetting twice anyway. Easy thing to change to.

My city banned plastic bags and it costs 10 cents for paper bags so you definitely see a lot more cloth bags being brought in. Just at grocery stores, you still get take out in plastic bags every so often but most places just switched to all paper

Would it not work to do like we do for refundable cans? QR code or barcode on the bag to verify and store drop off for a refund of this 10/15¢. People would go out of their way to collect and drop these off at facilities that could accept and recycle these.

ok so this is a mindset problem : people are too accustomed to disposable, and lost the habit to re-use (thank to Consumer society)?

This problem can be solved with education, with new habits taught to young generations : awareness courses about waste management, teaching about sorting, waste reduction, composting and food waste.

In my area they do it since 6 years in schools, now children are educating their parents !