Local city attorneys, county district attorneys and the California Attorney General’s Office have passed an official law requiring stores in California to use paper bags instead of plastic bags. The ban began on Jan. 1 of this year leaving customers to either bring their own reusable bags or be charged up to 10 cents for a paper bag.

Prior to this ban, plastic bags were not recycled and were increasing landfills by 47%. Paper bags are intended to be better for the environment and reduce the spread of microplastics.

While this new ban may seem beneficial for the environment, freshman Jazmine Barrera, has a different view.

“I think it’s a bad idea because while it does get rid of more unnecessary plastic, stores will have to give out at least two bags for a little bit of food,” she said. “The stores know that paper can rip easily, so producing more paper is just killing trees, which is killing our oxygen.”

Freshman Jasmine Gutierrez also feels the same way.

“I don’t like the new paper bag policy because the bags give out more easily,” Gutierrez said. “Now I can’t reuse them as trash bags or just in general because they’re paper and can rip at any moment, opposed to plastic bags that have a stronger hold. I used to reuse the plastic bags that they give out at any common grocery store.”

Despite these points freshman Charis Jimenez thinks the bags have their flaws and strengths.

“I think it’s good and bad because it does help solve our pollution problem, but it also opens up a new problem,” she said. “More trees are being used and the bags are not reusable.”

With the law going into effect in 2026, students have mixed opinions on whether paper bags will actually help the environment and if it will truly fix the problem.