By January 9, eight days after California’s updated plastic bag ban went into effect, the change was obvious in grocery stores across Santa Barbara.
At Sprouts, Ralphs, and Pavilions, checkout lines moved without the usage of familiar bagging of thick plastic “reusable” bags — the kind the state now says were rarely reused at all. Some shoppers arrived prepared, unfolding canvas totes or nylon sacks. Others skipped bags entirely, loading groceries directly into their carts and then into their cars. And at least one shopper arrived with a homemade bagging attachment fashioned from an old toolbox, clipped onto his cart so he could pack groceries himself.
California’s revised carryout bag law, which took effect January 1, eliminates the exemption that allowed thicker plastic bags to be sold as reusable. State officials say the change closes a loophole that undermined the original intent of the law…