Are you for or against plastic shopping bag bans?

[DVC-Don]

We use half a dozen a week for cat litter, the rest get put in the recycle bin at the stores.

 

[Lumpy1106]

I am not against banning plastic bags, I am against the mandatory charges for the multi-use or paper bags the stores can give you. Why? Because that money is just a bribe to the grocery stores to go along with the nonsense. The money you pay for take-out bags does not benefit the environment one bit. Think about it; what kept the stores from charging you for bags before the law went into effect? Absolutely nothing - it's so disingenuous. Also, is there anything else you can get in a store that there is a law mandating its minimum price? Nope. We call them "dime bags" (because, you know, they cost a dime?)

As for the reusable bags;
We call them "stupid bags". Why? Because it never fails, you get almost done in the store, kids in tow, when - OOOPS! You left the bags in the car. Now you have to either buy bags (I need more of those like a hole in the head), go back out to the car (not happening if you are solo with the kids) or take the groceries to the car in the shopping cart. It makes you feel really stupid, right? Those things take up half of the trunk of each of our cars, plus we've got a stash in the house - they're everywhere!

 

[cinnaminny]

I am for it. Half the time I forget my reusable bags and end up carrying stuff out in my hands instead of taking a bag. I think a full ban would make me remember my reusable ones.

 

[wenrob]

I am neutral on the subject. I don’t feel I *need* plastic bags.

Now that our county have given us actual recycle cans instead of those stupid little crates I recycle what I can. Our trash bag use has gone from 4-6 bags a week to one or two. My recycle can is full on trash day and my regular trash can only has one or two bags in it. I’ve moved to Hydro Flasks instead of water bottles, bought my kids reusable straws, I use reusable containers instead of baggies for lunches and refuse a bag when I don’t need one but make no apologies for using paper plates and paper towels.

I will say that the paper bags I get from Trader Joe’s (always double bagged) end up straight into the recycle bin after emptied because I have no other use for them. The plastic bags get saved because I use them for nasty stuff like meat trays or dirty jobs. I’ve been thinking about buying reusable for places like TJ’s and Target but they wouldn’t work at Walmart where I get the bulk of my groceries because there is just too much. Their pick up commercials show reusable bags but that’s not how they come. If they did some kind of trade program where they brought my stuff out in reusables and I returned the ones from the previous trip I’d be down for that. I’d even pay a small fee to do it.

 

[Hikergirl]

I am not against banning plastic bags, I am against the mandatory charges for the multi-use or paper bags the stores can give you. Why? Because that money is just a bribe to the grocery stores to go along with the nonsense. The money you pay for take-out bags does not benefit the environment one bit. Think about it; what kept the stores from charging you for bags before the law went into effect? Absolutely nothing - it's so disingenuous. Also, is there anything else you can get in a store that there is a law mandating its minimum price? Nope. We call them "dime bags" (because, you know, they cost a dime?)

As for the reusable bags;
We call them "stupid bags". Why? Because it never fails, you get almost done in the store, kids in tow, when - OOOPS! You left the bags in the car. Now you have to either buy bags (I need more of those like a hole in the head), go back out to the car (not happening if you are solo with the kids) or take the groceries to the car in the shopping cart. It makes you feel really stupid, right? Those things take up half of the trunk of each of our cars, plus we've got a stash in the house - they're everywhere!

NY just passed a plastic bag ban.
It also allows counties to charge 5 cents per paper bag. 40% of the revenue from the fee will go to programs for low and fixed income people to buy reusable bags, and 60% will go to NY environmental protection fund.
The problem I have is that paper bags are not better for the environment than plastic.
I'd rather have the plastic bag and a fee for those.

 

[MrsPete]

Multiple thoughts:

- I save my plastic bags and use them in small trash cans, so -- yeah -- they're being re-used. Once. Is that "enough" to justify their existence? They are "equal" to buying small trash bags.
- We could easily use fewer plastic bags if baggers didn't put 1-2 items into the bags. Fill the bags! This annoys me to no end.
- Personally, if I were in charge of the world, I'd go with charging people .05-.10 per plastic bag. It'd be enough to encourage people towards reusables, which benefits the earth ... for people who are using them at home, it comes out to about the same thing as buying small trash bags ... but it's not so much that it's a deal breaker if you forget your bags (or need more bags at the store).
- If you can't remember your reusable bags, you need to create a system /habit. Personally, when I empty my bags, I put them with my purse /keys so that I'll remember to take them out to the car.
- I love reusable bags, especially these, which my daughter gave me -- they are the best: they have clips that hold them onto the edges of your shopping cart /have a pocket at the end to keep your wallet and keys secure /hold about as much as 3 small disposable bags -- I just noticed they now have insulated bags, so I may need those: https://www.amazon.com/Grab-Bag-Shopping-Pkg/dp/B00RBUF1UG/ref=sr_1_3?crid=15JMOFU1HCKX8&keywords=grab+bags+reusable+shopping+bags&qid=1554853609&s=gateway&sprefix=grab+bags+r,aps,157&sr=8-3

 

[piccolopat]

This is the politically popular environmental trend of the moment. I think a serious discussion needs to be had on the use of disposable plastics and other materials in general. We've already seen plastic straws and now grocery bags being banned. What will the reaction be if disposable diapers are banned in the future? What about trash and food storage bags? These all go to the landfills and aren't biodegradable. What about the millions of plastic water, soda and beverage bottles? Even if recycled, it takes a lot of energy to collect, sort, transport and then recycle them, assuming there is a market for them.

 

[mnrose]

Single use plastic is horrible for the environment. Recycling isn't really a think you can do with plastic bags. And, since there are rational alternatives for them, we should use them.

I take my own shopping bags and reuse them, practically forever. LOL. Still have the first ones we ever got over 20 years ago (before my kids were born).

 

[mnrose]

If there is going to be a ban on plastic shopping bags, then there should also be a ban or surcharge on those millions of little Keurig plastic coffee pods. Since the invention, there has to be MILLIONS in the landfill already. I've been in Fortune 500 office buildings, where ONE floor can go through 75 pods in a DAY. These sky-rises are often 20 - 60 floors high. One plastic item shouldn't be surcharged, while millions of other unnecessary plastic other things are not being surcharged.

Can (general) you tell, I am on a rant about these plastic surcharge/bans.

Those things are awful. I make coffee using paper filters (which degrade nicely TYVM). Kuerigs are awful, and also make bad coffee. I cringe when I see them. If you use the reusable filters for them, it's ok...most people don't however.

 

[Imzadi]

NY just passed a plastic bag ban.
It also allows counties to charge 5 cents per paper bag.

Is that how much they will be allowed to charge us? Because I was at Whole Foods, brought my own plastic grocery bag, that I reused, and they took 10 cents off my bill.

We call them "dime bags" (because, you know, they cost a dime?)

But, they don't really cost the store a dime. Never have, from when only paper bags were around. Stores buy them by the gross and they are pennies per bag that way.

 

[mnrose]

From the same article the OP quoted.

"That said, the Danish government's estimate doesn't take into account the effects of bags littering land and sea, where plastic is clearly the worst offender."

A study purporting to show environmental impact that failed to take into account a major environmental impact comes out to 20,000 uses? hmmmmm.


"A 2011 study by the U.K. government found a person would have to reuse a cotton tote bag 131 times before it was better for climate change than using a plastic grocery bag"

Oh but wait. There's more.
Those studies were done on a per bag basis, and thus also didn't take into account that your average reusable bag can hold three times what the plastic bags do or that due to rips and the like, many of those plastic bags don't even get used once. So that 131 is knocked down to 43.

Oh but wait. There's even more. Those studies were for cotton reusable bags. Well I have reusable bags from several stores including four national grocery chains here in the states and guess what. They aren't made out of Cotton. So the 131 figure doesn't apply to them. They're made out of Polypropylene. They only require 11 uses on a per bag basis to be more environmentally friendly. And again taking into account their greater capacity, we're down to 4. Oh and these bags are recyclable when you can no longer use them.

So. Think you can use the reusable bag 4 times? I know I can. I'm well over 150 with mine that would easily beat the UK study even if they were cotton.

I'm way, way, way over 131 uses on many of my bags. LOL. Especially the one I've had since 1997....and gets used at least once a week (sometimes more). So, 52 x 21 = 1092. I think using that bag has been better for the environment.

 

[Colleen27]

I don't have a problem with the ban. Most of the analysis I've seen "proving" that bans don't make a measurable impact look at only one narrow facet of the environmental impact of single-use plastics (ie the one above that looked only at climate change while ignoring the solid waste issue), and while everyone says they reuse their bags, I don't think that could possibly account for all of the bags most Americans accumulate. I have a quicker-than-average turnover on bathroom trash bags because our household contains four women of reproductive age and all the feminine products that go along with that, but that's still only 4-6 bags a week - less than a single, mid-sized shopping trip brings in if I forget my reusable bags. Especially now that so many stores have gone to the tissue-thin bags that require virtually everything be double-bagged. Between dog waste, bathroom trash cans and cat litter, we don't quite use all of the bags that come into our house... and I'm about 50/50 on remembering my reusables. If I was only using plastic? We'd be drowning in plastic bags in no time, and with the current state of plastics recycling, that doesn't feel like a real solution. My city is among many in this area considering ending curbside recycling altogether because of skyrocketing costs, and a number of the groceries that used to accept plastic bags for recycling have quietly removed those containers from their stores.

I'd love to see a K-cup ban too, FWIW. Those things are so incredibly wasteful! My daughter hates that she can have that style of coffee pot but not a plain old Mr. Coffee in her dorm room because she hates the idea of putting all that single-use, non-recyclable plastic into the trash (she is looking at reusable filters, but they seem to get mixed reviews).

 

[Imzadi]

Whatever happened to making a pot of coffee for the office?

Those things are awful. I make coffee using paper filters (which degrade nicely TYVM). Kuerigs are awful, and also make bad coffee. I cringe when I see them. If you use the reusable filters for them, it's ok...most people don't however.

Plus those Keurigs are a couple hundred dollars per machine. And the pods are way overpriced. So, if people are going to pay for that "convenience" to make single cups of coffee, they can certainly afford to pay a surcharge on filling out landfills.

My Black & Decker single cup DRIP coffee maker (with dollar store paper filter insdie the permanent filter,) finally burnt out after 17 years. I know, because I checked to see when I reviewed it on Amazon. It worked so well and for so long, and didn't fill up landfills, that I bought the same model again. It was on sale for $15 at Target this past Christmas. Should last me another 15+ years without contributing to landfills.

 

[Colleen27]

Plus those Keurigs are a couple hundred dollars per machine. And the pods are way overpriced. So, if people are going to pay for that "convenience" to make single cups of coffee, they can certainly afford to pay a surcharge on filling out landfills.

My Black & Decker single cup DRIP coffee maker (with dollar store paper filter insdie the permanent filter,) finally burnt out after 17 years. I know, because I checked to see when I reviewed it on Amazon. It worked so well and for so long, and didn't fill up landfills, that I bought the same model again. It was on sale for $15 at Target this past Christmas. Should last me another 15+ years without contributing to landfills.

Does that have a warming plate? If not, would you mind sharing the model number?

 

[amberpi]

We just keep canvas bags in the car for shopping, especially when the Farmer's Market is active, and pay the nominal fee for the reuse ones when ordering from Instacart.

For kitty litter, I put my scooped litter back into the litter bottles(?) and screw on the top, so even between trash days (we have 3 a week), I can just put it in the garage and not smell it.

 

[LSUmiss]

We use the bags for cat litter, so one reuse only. I'm not a fan of the ban. I'd just have to go buy small garbage bags for cat litter.

Same here. Some things can’t be placed in a reusable bag.

 

[amberpi]

We call them "dime bags" (because, you know, they cost a dime?)

I think you are very confused about the most typical definition of a "dime bag." Maybe don't ask for any out in public?

 

[Hikergirl]

Is that how much they will be allowed to charge us? Because I was at Whole Foods, brought my own plastic grocery bag, that I reused, and they took 10 cents off my bill.

I think the wording I saw was that the state law allows the counties to charge the fee up to 5 cents, so I assume that the store could impose their own on top of that. Aldis charges for bags (paper and plastic) so I assume they will just add the 5 cents on top of what they already charge.

 

[wenrob]

Plus those Keurigs are a couple hundred dollars per machine. And the pods are way overpriced. So, if people are going to pay for that "convenience" to make single cups of coffee, they can certainly afford to pay a surcharge on filling out landfills.

My Black & Decker single cup DRIP coffee maker (with dollar store paper filter insdie the permanent filter,) finally burnt out after 17 years. I know, because I checked to see when I reviewed it on Amazon. It worked so well and for so long, and didn't fill up landfills, that I bought the same model again. It was on sale for $15 at Target this past Christmas. Should last me another 15+ years without contributing to landfills.

We have a Brew Express hooked up to our RO that has two brew baskets, one for full and half pots and one for single cups/to go cups and bowls for Ramen or the like. You can buy a pod like attachment for it but I don’t see why you’d want to.

I think you are very confused about the most typical definition of a "dime bag." Maybe don't ask for any out in public?

The question is are they really dime bags anymore? You didn’t get a whole lot back in the day I can’t imagine it would much at all now.

 

[amberpi]

The question is are they really dime bags anymore? You didn’t get a whole lot back in the day I can’t imagine it would much at all now.

I *think* it refers to the quantity and then the pricing, but I'm actually not really sure. I just generally didn't think it was a great reference in the larger public audience.