Azul Statement on California Legislation to Eliminate Grocery Store Plastic Bags by 2026
For Immediate Release
Thursday, February 8, 2024
Media Contacts
Betsy López-Wagner, López-Wagner Strategies, betsy@equitablecomms.com
Maeve Stewart, López-Wagner Strategies, maeve@equitablecomms.com
Azul Statement on California Legislation to Eliminate Grocery Store Plastic Bags by 2026
Sacramento, California – Azul, a Latinx-led and serving environmental justice organization working to protect the ocean and coasts, releases the following statement on behalf of Marce Gutierrez-Graudiņš, Azul’s founder and executive director:
“Work to achieve a legally-binding plastics treaty is underway and building on California’s Single-Use Carryout Bag Ban, SB 270, is more important than ever. The plastics crisis requires real governmental action and we’re proud to see the U.S. leadership front and center in California. Azul proudly joins these legislative leaders in advancing solutions to address the burdens of plastic pollution and environmental injustice.”
Azul California Policy Associate Tomas Valadez joined Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan and fellow California leaders at a press conference in Sacramento today announcing the legislation addressing plastic bag pollution. AB 2236 (Bauer-Kahan) and SB 1053 (Blakespear) will eliminate plastic bags in grocery stores by 2026. The livestream can be viewed here.
The press release from Assemblymember Bauer Kahan, Senator Blakespear, and Senator Allen Partner’s offices, featuring Azul, can be viewed here.
Background: In 2012, Azul kicked off its now-iconic Deja el Plástico campaign to reduce plastic pollution. The successful Deja el Plástico initiative has spanned more than a decade with various wins along the way. Notably, in 2014, after the California State Legislature passed the first statewide ban on single-use plastic bags in the U.S. via SB1070 in 2014 – out-of-state bag producers and interest groups introduced a statewide referendum to overturn the ban. Despite being outspent by nearly $5 million, Californians knew better and voted Yes on Prop 67 to ban plastic bags in the state. Azul’s organizing and advocacy only continued to grow from that legacy win.
Azul’s 2022 U.S. Latinos and the Ocean Poll found that 86 percent of Latinx voters believe plastic pollution will only worsen unless the U.S. government intervenes to curb and prevent it, and 92 percent of Latino voters support increasing efforts to do so.
In 2021, Azul and the United Nations Environment Programme released the report Neglected: Environmental Justice Impacts of Marine Litter and Plastics Pollution.
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Azul is a Latinx-led and serving environmental justice organization working to protect the ocean and coasts. It was founded in 2011 to bring Latinxs perspectives and participation to ocean conservation and has long advocated for environmental justice and equity in the state of California, across the nation and at international levels. Learn more at www.azul.org.