When I complained, having just shopped in Pacific Grove and Carmel and hearing no such nonsense, that "Monterey is interested in doing our part to save the environment!"
I told the clerk that I would be taking my garments and the sack back home to Kansas whereupon, I was told that, "Perhaps this would be a good teaching tool for Kansas to do as well."
I informed the brain-dead clerk sporting nose rings, etc. that "Kansas could charge a $100 tax on sacks but it would do nothing to 'save the environment' because the environment didn't need 'saving' and if it did, people have absolutely to power on earth to 'save' it anyway." I continued, "Can the people in California stop earthquakes from happening, of course not, no more than the people in Kansas stop a tornado! Wake up and just admit this is just another tax on California citizens!"
I once worked for a plastic recycler that bought the bins of tossed out plastic grocery stacks and shopping sacks. They were recycled - into trash bags and landfill liners.