The process is super common in the big UK supermarkets - and it's absolutely my preferred way of doing a larger shop. You can use whatever bags/containers you like (or even none at all and just keep things in the trolley/cart if you want). They then do spot checks at the checkout to see if items have been scanned, and remove any security tags

It would also be simpler to just ban cigarettes and alcohol and all of those things that the State of California knows to cause cancer. Complete prohibition is not the only policy tool we have, and indeed it's usually a pretty bad tool.

Right now, recycling (at least, of plastic) is a lie. This law is about forcing companies to stop lying. Seems appropriate to me.

Glass containers were far more common when I was growing up. Manufacturers and retailers prefer plastic because it's cheaper to ship and has less breakage. At the consumer end of things, glass is a minor danger but I remember when sidewalks and parking lots used to frequently have glass shards. Nearby grassy areas ended up with them too. And if you dropped a glass jar at home, it was a challenge to find every little bit of glass that flew off across the floor.

Plastic has done away with many of the problems that glass containers created, though it has a ton of issues of its own.