"Paper or plastic?"

[DubaiSis]

I don't know. The incentive of not having to deal with all those extra bags is enough for me. It just takes a little training to remember to bring the bags with you. I put the bags straight back in the car after shopping to help. And I have walked back to my car more than once to grab forgotten bags.

[DrPhil]

These topics beg conservative-moderate-liberal questions:

1. What are the roles of state and federal governments?

2. When do things that sound good in theory (or in small doses) absolutely suck in practice (or in large doses)?

3. Should the people who run state and federal governments "let" people potentially be their own detriment if people insist on being free and absent of government intervention (even if that means creating misery and eventually wallowing in the misery created)?

4. Should the people who run state and federal governments save people from themselves either through prevention/protection or through rescuing them if their freedom bites them in the ass?

[Jill1228]

Originally Posted by 33girl

I will say this, if you're going to ban the plastic bags stores all need to put up signs that say something to the effect of "please wash your reusable bags/totes once in a while." I'm as far from a germophobe as you can get, but when I was still in retailland, there were reusable bags presented to me to fill that I refused to touch because they were so foul.

YES! I work retail and some of the reusable bags people bring in are trifling.
Put them through the washer and hand them to dry! How hard is that?

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

Meh, you get used to it. In San Francisco, we just carry bags with us. The only time these days I pay the 10 cents is when I buy something at Lululemon where the bag is reusable anyway.

Lululemon reusable bags rock! OMG!

My husband complains about my ever growing reusable bag collection. Honey, you can never have too many
*saying this as I am eyeing a new Lilly reusable bag...*

[SoCalGirl]

I have a box full of reusable bags.

They never make it into a store. I end up using them as tote bags mainly.

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by DubaiSis

I don't know. The incentive of not having to deal with all those extra bags is enough for me. It just takes a little training to remember to bring the bags with you. I put the bags straight back in the car after shopping to help. And I have walked back to my car more than once to grab forgotten bags.

Mine live in the car. The problem is, there's nowhere in the cart (buggy) to put them. They need a pocket for those bags so they're accessible when they are needed. If you throw them in the bottom of the cart, all the stuff is on top of them and the bagger can't get to them to start bagging the stuff. They would have my stuff all bagged in plastic by the time we could get to the reusable ones.

As I said, if they ban them, then I'll end up buying plastic bags to line the trash cans so what's the difference? I'll use the same number of them either way.

I can also see it in nicer climates, but paper bags are a nightmare when it is raining or snowing or hot and humid. Back in the day, before plastic, they'd be so wet from humidity they were useless. The cloth resusable are better in humidity but when it's raining or snowing, you can't close the top.

I'm ok with moving toward reusable. I like that they hold more and are more sturdy. They need to make them so they close at the top (velcro maybe?) and they need a place in the buggy to put them. A little pocket toward the end by the bagger would be great.

ETA: And the insulated ones need to be WAY bigger. The ones they sell here in the stores only fit one or two things in them. Pain in the neck to have 15 of those things.

And no, I don't think this is the kind of thing that should be legislated.

[DubaiSis]

My grocery store in Dubai had little hooks on the handle of the cart. Genius! So yes, the bags were out of the way and you could set them on the belt first.

And I have a few insulated bags that do have zippers at the top. There is a huge difference in insulated bags. The plastic ones with the hard plastic tops that you snap together SUCK. My best one was a swag from my insurance agent in California.

[aephi alum]

At most grocery stores around here, the bagger automatically uses plastic bags, or if there is no bagger, only plastic bags are supplied. I use them as garbage bags once they've fulfilled their purpose as grocery bags.

Our local grocery store gives a 5 cent credit per reusable bag, but 9 times out of 10 the cashier forgets to apply the credit.

In a town bordering mine, the grocery stores are required to charge for plastic bags. I prefer the carrot to the stick.

[aggieAXO]

Yes on the ban. Bags have been banned in Austin for a couple of years. I just remember to bring my cloth ones. If I forget then I buy some new bags. Not hard

[SoCalGirl]

Another thing I don't like about using the reusable bags in the grocery stores is that the baggers over fill them.

Like 2 gallons of milk plus whatever else they can cram in there. Do I look like Wonder Woman? No, I can't carry all that in one bag in one trip. Way too heavy.

[DubaiSis]

Funny, with the plastic they way underbagged them, and you're right, they tend to overpack the fabric ones. Just because the bag won't break doesn't mean we want to carry them that way!

[amIblue?]

Originally Posted by jefro3

If the cops are too lazy to enforce the EXISTING litter laws then what makes you think they will enforce the new plastic ban?

Because the threat of being caught by the police is the only thing that keeps people from breaking the laws, right?

[amIblue?]

Originally Posted by jefro3

THe FACT is the cops don't enforce the EXISTING laws that would prevent the problem.

What makes you think the new law will solve the problem? Will the people that litter suddenly care about the environment because there is a new law? NO!


When you get done with the plastic bag problem let me know your plan for all the tires, tvs, refrigerators, plastic bottles and all the other trash that is dumped everyday.

I don't have a plastic bag problem. Just pointing out that what you posted about the police has nothing to do with anything.

If businesses are located in a community that has passed a law banning plastic bags, then logically, a majority of the community are against plastic bags, or the vote wouldn't have passed. If this is the case, it's bad PR and therefore bad business to continue having plastic bags. Few businesses are in business to piss off their customers, so no plastic bags in these areas.

[DubaiSis]

^^^ this isn't so much a law as a change in civic policy. The cops don't go after tax dodgers either, even though there have been laws broken.

Where I think the gap occurs is that 100% of the plastic bags seems heavy-handed because they do serve a purpose in our lives from time to time. But until you can get the neanderthals on board about waste/plastic/environment issues, the heavy-handed is probably what you have to do.

[AGDee]

The hooks on the handle of the cart would be great and would definitely make me more likely to use the reusable bags.

I also get frustrated when they overpack the reusable bags. But then, I get frustrated with baggers anyway. I put all the refrigerated stuff on the belt together. I put the household items on the belt together. The expectation is that they get bagged together. Why some baggers put the toilet paper with the meat is beyond me.

I also found, when the grocery stores were giving discounts for using reusable bags, they they would forget. This is partly because they finish ringing things up long before everything is done being bagged so they don't know how many bags were used when they finish ringing up the order.

[ASTalumna06]

California becomes first state to ban plastic bags:

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wir...g-ban-25858684