California's 2026 Plastic Bag Ban and What It Means for Paper Bags

If you buy paper bags for a business, you have probably heard something about California banning plastic bags and paper getting harder to find. Some of that is accurate and some of it is sales pitch. Here is what the rules actually say.

This is an explainer, not a sales page. Most businesses reading it will turn out not to be covered at all.

What changed on 1 January 2026

California has banned plastic carryout bags at grocery checkout since 2014, under SB 270. But that law allowed stores to hand out thicker plastic bags if they were labelled "reusable," and most did. Plastic bag disposal in California went up 47% between 2014 and 2022.

SB 1053 closed that loophole. Since 1 January 2026, covered stores in California can only offer recycled paper bags at checkout. There is no thicker-plastic option any more.

What a compliant checkout bag has to be

Four requirements, and the second one is the one people miss:

1. At least 40% postconsumer recycled content, rising to 50% on 1 January 2028.
2. Printed on the bag with the manufacturer's name and the recycled content percentage.
3. Recyclable in typical California curbside programs.
4. Charged at a minimum of 10 cents, which cannot be waived, discounted or absorbed as a promotion.

Requirement two catches people out because it means a plain, unprinted bag cannot be a compliant checkout bag no matter what it is made of. The declaration has to be on the bag itself.

Who is actually covered

This is the part worth reading carefully, because the answer for most businesses is "not you."

Covered:

• Grocery stores and supermarkets
• Convenience stores and food marts
• Liquor stores
• Retailers with an in-store pharmacy

Not covered:

• Restaurants, delis, caterers and takeout operations
• Boutiques and clothing retailers that do not sell food
• Gift shops, florists, salons
• Farm stands and market stalls

There are also carve-outs within covered stores. Bags without handles used for loose produce, meat or bakery items are treated separately, as are pharmacy prescription bags and non-handled garment bags at dry cleaners.

So if you run a restaurant and buy takeout bags, or a boutique buying gift bags, SB 1053 does not apply to what you hand your customers. That is worth knowing before somebody sells you a compliance solution you do not need.

It is not just California

Washington's parallel law took effect the same day. Paper carryout bags must contain at least 40% postconsumer recycled content or be made from wheat straw, with a minimum charge of 8 cents. Plastic film bags carry a 12-cent charge.

Roughly a dozen states now have statewide restrictions on single-use plastic carryout bags, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. Most pair the plastic ban with a mandatory paper bag charge, typically 5 to 10 cents.

New Jersey is the outlier worth knowing about. Its law bans paper bags as well as plastic at larger stores, pushing customers to reusable bags instead. If you sell into New Jersey grocery, do not assume paper is the safe answer.

Rules differ meaningfully state to state, and some cities layer their own ordinances on top. Check your own state rather than generalising from California.

Is there really a paper bag shortage?

Not a shortage in the sense of empty shelves. But the demand shift is real and measurable: US unbleached bag and sack shipments rose 19.2% year over year in the most recent full-year data, driven by packagers moving from plastic to paper across retail and e-commerce. Kraft grocery bag paper prices rose alongside it.

What that means practically is less about availability and more about price and lead time on specific grades. High-postconsumer-content paper is a narrower supply pool than virgin kraft, so the bags that satisfy a 40% requirement are the ones under the most pressure - and that pressure increases when the threshold moves to 50% in 2028.

If you are a covered business, the sensible response is longer lead times and firmer supplier commitments, not panic buying.

Three questions to ask any bag supplier

If you are a covered store, these three questions settle it quickly. If a supplier cannot answer them in writing, that is your answer.

1. What is the postconsumer recycled content, as a percentage? Not "recycled" - postconsumer recycled, which is a specific thing. And be aware that "recyclable" is a completely different claim from "recycled content." A bag can be 100% recyclable and contain zero recycled material. Most virgin kraft bags are exactly that. The two get used interchangeably in marketing and they should not be.

2. Is the recycled content and manufacturer printed on the bag? If the bag is plain, it cannot be a compliant checkout bag in California regardless of what it is made from.

3. Will it still comply in 2028? A bag at exactly 40% today will not meet the 50% threshold that arrives on 1 January 2028. If you are signing a longer supply agreement, ask now.

The short version

If you are a grocery, convenience store, liquor store or pharmacy retailer in California or Washington, your checkout bags now need a documented postconsumer recycled percentage printed on them, and you must charge for them.

If you are a restaurant, a boutique, a caterer or a market stall, none of this applies to the bags you hand out - though it is still shaping what everything costs, because the whole market is buying more paper than it was two years ago.

This is general information, not legal advice. Bag rules change, they vary by state and sometimes by city, and the authoritative source is your state agency - CalRecycle in California. Verify before you commit to a supply contract.