California has become the first state to impose a statewide ban on single-use shopping bags. That’s one state too many.

There’s no question the ban was born out of good intentions. Environmental groups and local governments say plastic bags have been a vexing source of pollution. Because they don’t easily decompose, they end up littering parks, rivers, beaches and oceans. Plastic debris can accumulate in the ocean and ends up in the bellies of fish and other marine life. Cities and counties estimate they spend millions of dollars to clean up the waste.

But as the new law stands, it won’t fix the problem. The law targets plastic bags provided at check-out counters at grocery stores, pharmacies, convenience stores and liquor shops. The ban does not apply to nonfood retailers such as clothing and electronics shops. It does not apply to the plastic bags provided at grocery stores for produce and meat. It does not ban plastic bags that cover dry-cleaning.

And there’s a reason California did not ban these other common uses of plastic bags — it would be unenforceable. A blanket prohibition of plastic baggage would require gargantuan efforts to provide alternative packaging for a multitude of goods and services in addition to groceries. The financial backlash alone would have the potential to paralyze day-to-day commerce.

Could you even imagine buying a loaf of sliced bread that’s not in a plastic bag?

And so, unable to address the actual problem it has identified, government sets up a symbolic proscription. Unable to take on the entire plastics industry, let alone the plastic bag industry, government targets one part of the spectrum — because it can handle that much.

And instead of solving a problem — plastic bag litter — the ban creates other problems. So the legislation imposes other requirements on grocers, like a maximum price of 10 cents on paper bags customers will need as substitutes for the banned plastic — as if grocers don’t already factor such overhead costs into all their grocery items. Sponsors of the legislation note with pride that it also limits how grocers can spend the proceeds from paper bag sales, and requires stores to provide free bags to people who are on public assistance.

Some opponents of the legislation favor an approach that encourages recycling plastic bags instead of banning them. California set up such a program in 2006, but the Associated Press found the state wasn’t tracking how many bags were recycled. The state’s last review of the data in 2009 found a recycling rate of only 3 percent, and officials doubt it has improved much.

That’s a dreadful shame. Apparently there were not sufficient incentives for stores or consumers to recycle bags. But without any tracking of the recycling program, there’s no evaluation that could lead to improvements. And judging from the apparent half-hearted government approach to a failed recycling program, how much credence can be given to the follow-up ban?

Meanwhile, Californians still can buy water in 24-packs of plastic bottles, bound in plastic wrap; they can get their fresh meat and produce wrapped, bagged or boxed in plastic; they can buy their milk and California dairy products in plastic containers; heck, they can even pay with plastic.

And the new ban on plastic grocery bags adds little to their lives but an added regulatory hindrance.