SACRAMENTO, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- With about one-third of Californians already living with bans on plastic bags, Gov. Jerry Brown signed the first state-wide measure Tuesday.

The bill bans stores from providing single-use plastic bags except for some items like meat, vegetables and bulk products. They must also impose a small charge for paper bags to encourage the use of reusable bags.


"This bill is a step in the right direction -- it reduces the torrent of plastic polluting our beaches, parks and even the vast ocean itself," Brown said. "We're the first to ban these bags, and we won't be the last."

Californians Against Waste, which sponsored the state-wide ban, said that the use of plastic bags, introduced in the United States in 1976, grew so fast that, by 1996, two out of every three bags in the country was plastic. The light-weight bags have also become highly visible in waterways and strewn around the landscape.

In California, San Francisco passed the first municipal ban in 2007 and 126 more governments hopped on the bandwagon, including Los Angeles County. The state has more local plastic bag bans in place than the rest of the country put together.

Bag makers are planning a push to get the issue on the ballot, hoping voters will repeal the ban.

"If this law were allowed to go into effect it would jeopardize thousands of California manufacturing jobs, hurt the environment, and fleece consumers for billions so grocery store shareholders and their union partners can line their pockets," the American Progressive Bag Alliance said in a statement. "Since state lawmakers failed their constituents by approving this terrible bill, we will take the question directly to the public and have great faith they will repeal it at the ballot box."

The law takes effect July 1, 2015, for supermarkets and a year later for liquor stores and convenience stores.