In an effort to reduce water consumption and resident’s exposure to chemically coated paper, Assemblymember Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, has reintroduced legislation that would require California businesses to only print physical receipts upon request.
If passed, Assembly Bill 1347 would fine companies if they automatically print receipts as part of their business transactions, or if they provide receipts on request that are unnecessarily long or have dangerous chemicals in their ink.
Ting argued that in many cases, people don’t want or need a physical receipt, especially when buying something like to-go coffee or a pack of gum.
“It doesn’t make sense to kill so many trees and produce billions pounds of carbon emissions,” said Ting. “AB 1347 gives customers a choice and still provides for customers to request a paper receipt when they need it.”
Green America, an environmental group that works to reduce retailers’ impacts on the environment, reported that print receipts across the country cost over 3 million trees and 10 billion gallons of water annually – and that 49 percent of people throw them away or lose them after receiving them.
“I can’t imagine that we’d rather have receipts over drinking water, receipts over water for our crops, water for the agricultural industry,” said Ting. “It’s really a matter of prioritization.”
And not only are the receipts sometimes unnecessary and harmful for the environment, but they often contain Bisphenol-A and Bisphenol-S, which are known endocrine disruptors that are linked to developmental and neurological disorders.
These chemicals, which can be absorbed upon touch and contaminate compost bins, also make receipts not recyclable.
“Our unwanted paper receipts contribute to unrecyclable litter and expose us to toxic endocrine disruptors such as BPA,” said Chloe Brown from Californians Against Waste, an interest group that is co-sponsoring AB 1347. “By simply offering consumers alternatives, we can stop a completely unnecessary and wasteful use of our natural resources,”
Ting’s bill would issue two warnings to non-compliant businesses before fining them $25 a day, with a maximum of $300 per year, if they continue to print out unnecessary receipts. He said it would not be an “overly onerous violation,” but more so a reminder for companies to be mindful of their waste.
Ting previously attempted to shift California away from paper receipts in a 2019 bill, which later fell flat in the Senate Appropriations Committee. Ting said that since the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses have largely shifted towards paperless, contactless payment transactions with their customers.
Some large retailers have already transitioned to letting their customers choose how they’d like their proof of payment, including CVS Pharmacy, which was notoriously known for handing customers scroll-like receipts for simple purchases. Now, customers can decide if they’ like no receipt, an e-receipt or a paper receipt at checkout.
Green America said CVS’s decision a year ago saved an estimated 87 million yards of receipt paper.
31 comments
No wonder San Francisco elected officials are pro-shoplifting. No paper receipts…….
Get a life and solve some real problems.Do these people sit in the dark and dream up this crap or what.What above reducing gas and grocery prices close the border’s and protect the country.You morons are killing this country.
They have zero ability to fix the real problems that are destroying the state and the country. So, they make up phony petty issues and come up with big fixes for them. It’s all just an attempt to make themselves feel important and to show the public how great they think they are.
It is clear they have an internal strategy guru that organizes party initiatives. The national DNC talks to the state level guys and tells them which issues to hammer. ONLY toward an end of getting elected. Not civic duty at all. It’s like a divorce proceeding and the kids are stuck in the middle. The people who are elected are not so bc of their legislative skills. It is bc they are allowed to run bc they display an ability to act/lie, operate irrespective of a moral compass, to follow directions and to keep a secret. That is what a representative democracy does for a country this big. It works on a small scale where there is individual accountability. Not an anonymous heterogeneous one like America at this point.
I feel so bad that my receipt has caused little Johnny to go thirsty and Susy has fallen ill with “Paper Receipt Disorder”.
Who comes up with this stuff? Does anyone actually believe that “Green America” has actual, real data that proves that we are destroying our state one little piece of paper at a time?
Looks like this Ting fellow is a very unserious person.
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How do you get out of Costco without a receipt?
Or Walmart? I bet these twerps have consultants who suggest things like this to keep them in the public eye.
I certainly hope there isn’t another TP shortage…..
On the surface it seems reasonable. CVS is famous for handing you a books worth of paper with all kinds of offers on your receipt. Point of sale advertising apparently works. I’m sure a max of $300 is just the cost of doing business, so this proposal has no teeth.
It’s past time that the Socialist wing of the Democrat party actually solve problems that effect most Californians.
The simple answer is to e-mail the receipt (without the offers).
A few comments: 1) most stores ask if you want the receipt printed or emailed (no need for another law) 2) I do not like storing everything on my phone from receipts to entertainment tickets, etc. What happens when the battery in the phone dies and you can’t enter an entertainment venue or exit a store (like Costco) and finally 3) moderation is good for all aspects in life – those that want receipts emailed – great, those that want them printed – great! Exception, CVS does goes over board with the length of their receipts.
Phil, thanks for this legislation, it’s so important to helping working families. NOT! Get your priorities in line with things we really need or just resign.
Guess the limit on how many squares of toilet paper you’re allowed to use is next year.
After all only they, know what’s best for you.
I’m am so glad that Assemblymember Ting has addressed this critical issue. So much more important than issues like rising crime, the homeless, drug dealers, inadequate water and power resources, etc… It’s refreshing to see government officials doing something about issues that affect everyone so negatively. Big sigh of relief that I no longer have to be burdened with a paper receipt.
How do you return an item without a receipt? Receipts are also used to verify purchases a person makes on their credit card statements.
Please support my start-up where i take those bits of paper and make clothing for the homeless.
Potential concerns…
– Being overcharged or taxed without knowing the costs
– Leaving a store, buying a number of items, without any proof of purchase
– What if you need to return an item or items. How do prove you purchased the item there? By such a date? Does that mean any item you buy can be returned at any time anywhere? What if the item was purchased in cash? What is there’s a dispute? What is your legal remedy without any proof of purchase?
– I know you can email a receipt, but do you want to hand out your email address to EVERYONE?
– What if you’ve buying something for a business. How do you expense without a receipt? How do you itemize?
You obviously didn’t read the article. It plainly says in it that you can still get a receipt if you need/want one. You’ll just have to ask for it.
See I would rather say I do not want the receipt than have to ask for a receipt. Granted, I throw a lot of mine away … but I also keep most for tax purposes as I do quite a bit of work for non-profits and others for my employer as I have to show receipts to get reimbursed.
This will make the IRS and FTB very happy if you no longer have any receipts to prove your alleged tax deductions.
They should also use a more holistic material like Egyptian papyrus leaves, assuming it does not clog the printer.
This sounds like a minor thing in a way but it is part of a major problem brought on by echo freaks that eventually will wreck everything. The echo people have thought out nothing. They just come up with things that sound good but will end up catastrophes.
If he wants to do something to save the environment stop sending political flyers. They are total useless and clutter the waste paper bask.
Cali politicians can’t do anything meaningful so they pick on receipts…. guess they were tired of picking on straws and ketchup packets
Russ was right!
Liberalism is a mental disorder.
Trees are a crop. You plant them, harvest them and then plant some more. We’re not making paper receipts from old growth redwoods.
Shhhhh. No one is supposed to know that, or that China produces more than twice the greenhouse gasses we do so outlawing things like gas stoves does zippo. It’s all theater.
How does this state not smell its own fascism. Not that receipts matter or constitute media, but that this state approaches EVERY outcome it desires by banning. California political 101 says “get a few good bans on the record if you want to make it in this business”. It’s so bizarre and cultish.
What happens when there is, NO ADULT SUPERVISION.
Uggh, more BS.
If Ting and all these environmentalist REALLY wanted to make a dent in saving trees, reducing CO2 etc you would immediately stop the production and mailing of the 5 pieces of junk mail I get delivered to home everyday!!!
Use their math here “… cost over 3 million trees and 10 billion gallons of water annually – and that 49 percent of people throw them away or lose them after receiving them.”
So junk mail would have to be around (conservatively across the state) 15M trees, 30B gallons of water, 95% of people throw them away. Now multiply this across the COUNTRY!!!!!
Let’s also add the fuel saved by postal service vehicles since their load will be lightened, emissions reduction from those vehicles as well, faster service delivery across the the ENTIRE postal service ecosystem…how many BILLIONS of pieces of junk mail will no longer need to be sorted? Less mail means reduction in hours and overtime paid to mail carriers and support staff – SAVINGS FOR ALL AMERICANS!!!
Should I mention the harmful chemicals used and waste produced to print these mailings?
What about the recycling plants who get 95% of these mailers…no need to waste energy and water cleaning them if they aren’t produced in the first place.
I could go on and on on the savings this would bring. Again, if I didn’t have a real job…
Same politician that made jaywalking legal apparently because people were being profiled and stopped for this offense.
Oh come on! This legislation is pointless unless Ting also passes the bill to ban toothpicks in order to save more trees too.
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