Bring Your Own Bag – Home
San José is the largest City in the state to ban plastic carryout bags.
 The ordinance began on January 1, 2012, and:
- Grocery stores, pharmacies, small and large retailers can no longer provide plastic carryout bags at checkout;
- Stores may still provide paper bags made of 40% post-consumer recycled material and charge a minimum of 10 cents for each bag. After the initial two years, the store charge will increase to a minimum of 25 cents for paper bags. The charge will be retained by the store;
- Customers purchasing food with WIC and CalFresh “food stamps” may be provided a recycled content paper bag at no cost for the first two years of the ban.
View full ordinance language
Where can I find a copy of the Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Single-use Carryout Bag Ordinance?
The Final EIR is made up of 2 documents: a) the Draft EIR and b) the First Amendment to the Draft EIR (including comment letters on the EIR). These documents can be found at the City’s Planning Department website, in their Environmental Review, EIR Library.
Link to Planning Department EIR Library, then scroll down to Single-use Carryout  Bags.
Resources for Retailers
Information to help businesses understand how the new ordinance affects them may be found on this website, including frequently asked questions and a customer factsheet that was developed after more than two years of stakeholder and community input.
Make It A Habit and Grab It! Don't forget to take a reusable bag when you shop.
The City of San José, in collaboration with other Bay Area cities and counties, has partnered with the Bay Area Recycling Outreach Coalition and Keep California Beautiful to launch public education campaigns, including the regional Bring Your Own Bag “Make It A Habit and Grab It!” and the state-wide “Got Your Bags!” The City has distributed reusable bags at several retail locations along with fliers to inform consumers prior to the start of the Bring Your Own Bag ordinance. 
Shopping with a Reusable Bag is the Best Choice
A high-quality reusable bag has the potential to replace over 600 single-use plastic bags over its lifetime, significantly reducing plastic bag litter. Plastic bags are a common litter item found in creek cleanups. Paper bags are also problematic, taking 14 million trees each year in the United States to produce a year's supply of paper bags for retail use. Reusable bags reduce litter and conserve natural resources.
Recycle Plastic Bags at Local Grocery and Pharmacy Stores
Of the plastic bags collected at curbside, only 4% are recycled, the rest are landfilled or become litter, which impairs our streets, creek and oceans. The City of San José no longer collects plastic bags at curbside for recycling because single-use plastic carryout bags interfere with the recycling facility’s machinery and often jam the screens used to separate materials, which is expensive to repair. The City estimates the cost at $1 million a year.
Take your single-use plastic bags back to your local grocery or pharmacy stores for recycling.
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