A bill in California’s state assembly takes aim at paper receipts and if passed, would ban businesses from handing customers receipts unless they specifically ask for it.
In the brand new “Skip the Slip” bill, businesses could be charged as much as $300 in the event that they proceed to pass out paper receipts.
Phil Tin, D-San Francisco, introduced Assembly Bill 161 , and shared that his bill is a straightforward option to reduce paper waste within the state while addressing consumers’ frustrations with excessively long receipts.
The bill would require stores to make use of electronic receipts because the default option.
Stores that proceed to present out printed receipts may very well be subject to a civil penalty of $25 per day, capping at an annual $300.
In Ting’s laws, the lawmaker argues that paper receipts harm the environment and are harmful to humans.
Advocacy group Green America estimated that thousands and thousands of trees and billions of gallons of water are used annually to supply paper receipts in the USA.
Democratic staff member William Pond, left, wears an enlarged mock-up of a receipt as Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, right, discusses his bill to require businesses to supply electronic receipts, in Sacramento, Calif on Jan. 8. 2019.AP
In his laws, Ting shared that receipts generated over 300 million kilos of waste and 4 billion kilos of carbon dioxide.
Ting cited studies by the Environmental Working Group and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that retail staff have higher concentrations of BPA or BPS than those that don’t have regular contact with receipts.
Assemblyman Phil Ting displays an extended paper receipt as he discusses his bill to require businesses to supply electronic receipts on Jan. 8, 2019, in Sacramento, Calif. AP
Ting’s “Skip the Slip” bill is modeled after a California law which requires plastic straws to be given in dine-in restaurants only upon request.
In Sept. 2018, former California Gov. Jerry Brown made California the primary state to bar full-service restaurants from routinely giving out single-use plastic straws.
