Are you for or against plastic shopping bag bans?

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Small bags get reused at our house as bathroom trash liners most frequently but there are other uses. We don't personally use them for kitty litter as we use trash liners for that as the size also fits our pull out cabinet style trash cans for our kitchen.

If we find ourselves having way too much of excess small plastic bags the next time we go to Wal-Mart we bring them and put them in their plastic bag drop off container. There's also a glass bottle recycling in that particular Wal-Mart's parking lot so it's kinda easy for us to get both at the same time.

I think I'd like to see how we can make bags better for the environment like how they are made to help the after effects of the bag, etc and I feel like that should have been the big push first rather than banning and/or surcharging plastic bags. I'm unsure if the ban and/or surcharge truly solves the issue of plastic bags littering the environment.

 

[L&Lfan]

Against the ban...

 

[tvguy]

Here in California they have been required by law to charge 10 cents for a plastic or paper since 2014. I am not a fan of that given that the stores pay a lot less than that per bag.
Certainly it is environmentally responsible not to use plastic bags. But my issue for years with plastic bags is they don't contain my groceries. When I get home my groceries are spread all over the trunk of the my car if they are in plastic. We spend $8 for a stack of 250 good old stiff paper bags. Never have stuff spread all over the trunk with them. I have never checked how long they last. Many months for sure. That is what we primarily use, but we do have 4 cloth bags for heavy things like canned goods.

 

[Imzadi]

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

No warming plate. It comes with an insulated travel mug. Although, I keep it with the coffee maker as it's 15 oz "carafe." (Doesn't have a spill-proof lid.) Once the coffee is brewed into it, I then pour it into an actual mug or travel mug I really use. I use a Contigo Auto Seal, spill-proof mug.

It's the Black & Decker Brew 'N Go Coffeemaker:

5,445 reviews at Amazon. Mine is in there somewhere!

https://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-DCM18S-Coffeemaker-Stainless/dp/B00005MF9C/ref=sr_1_3?crid=XFV0GU400UBJ&keywords=black+&+decker+brew+&+go+coffee+maker&qid=1554856649&s=gateway&sprefix=Black+&+Decker+Brew,aps,176&sr=8-3

Target doesn't seem to have the stainless steel mug currently in stock, but it is $14, on sale again:

https://www.target.com/p/black-decker-personal-coffeemaker-with-travel-mug-black-dcm18/-/A-16198844

 

[North of Mouse]

Yes, against bans! I reuse most bags for trash/garbage. Unless all plastics - water/soda bottles, large trash bags, cups, etc. etc. are banned - what is the point?

 

[disykat]

I'm not against the ban, but I feel like i reuse the thin plastic ones pretty efficiently. My kids who live in cities with bans take some of them home each time they visit too. I'll miss having that option.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

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.

Starbucks. How to charge $5 for a 30 cent cup of Joe.
Kuerig How to charge $100 for a $15 coffee maker.

 

[eco-muse]

I support the ban 100%. I see too many of those bags along roads, in Trees, and just polluting the world, in general. That's not even going into the number found in the oceans' garbage patches, or those found in the stomach contents of Whales and other animals. Recycling should also be made mandatory everywhere.

 

[dish rag]

Against.

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

Indifferent

 

[Ellie008]

Indifferent. We use reusable grocery bags because around here they will only put 2-3 things in each plastic bag at the grocery store. The first time I went grocery shopping here after we moved in I think I came home with 50 plastic bags. It is ridiculous. Bought the reusable ones shortly after that and now my grocery shopping all fits in ~3 of the reusable bags instead of ~30 plastic ones. I forgot them in the car a lot at first, but it is such a habit now I haven't forgotten to bring them into the store in years.

At Target or other places I don't usually bring the reusable bags. I reuse those plastic bags as trash can liners, etc. but I still end up with way more of them than we need.

I do hope the ban going into effect will help reduce the amount of plastic bags blowing around and stuck in trees.

 

[Hikergirl]

I support the ban 100%. I see too many of those bags along roads, in Trees, and just polluting the world, in general. That's not even going into the number found in the oceans' garbage patches, or those found in the stomach contents of Whales and other animals. Recycling should also be made mandatory everywhere.

I wish NY would use the money they get from the paper bag fee to clean up the highways. They are a mess, bags and bottles everywhere.
We've been recycling for as long as I can remember, yet the streets and oceans are still littered with trash.
Not to mention that recycling isn't all that great for the environment when you take in to account all that goes into it.
We live in a disposable world, everyone wants the new shiny stuff. I think there should be as much of an effort to encourage people to consider re-using and re-purposing as there is for recycling.

 

[kdonnel]

I came across another article today that talks about some other issues with not just plastic bag bans but single use plastic bans in general that are starting to crop up.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-47161379

Some packaging is a foolish waste.

But are shrink-wrapped cucumbers really so silly if it means they stay fresh for 14 days rather than three?

Which is worse 1.5g (0.05oz) of plastic wrap or entire cucumbers going off before being eaten? Suddenly it's not so obvious.

It raises some interesting points on how single use plastic makes it possible for us to even eat some of the foods we eat because it preserves the food long enough to make it from farm to table or protects it again so it can make it from farm to table without being destroyed.

About a decade ago, one UK supermarket experimented with taking all its fruit and vegetables out of their packaging - and its food wastage rate doubled.

And it's not just shelf life - what about waste created before food gets to the shop in the first place?

Another supermarket, stung by criticism for putting apples in plastic-wrapped trays, tried selling them loose from big cardboard boxes - but so many were damaged in transit that the approach used more packaging per apple actually sold.

According to a UK government report, only 3% of food is wasted before it gets to shops.

In developing countries, that figure can be 50% - and that difference is partly due to how the food is packaged.

I had no idea how important packaging for food could be as far as food waste is concerned.

I do think that sometimes industry has to be forced down a new path by heavy handed regulation but that those creating the regulation are not always so forward thinking but instead just reacting how they feel they should to get re-elected forcing industry to adapt and overcome.

But our desire for less waste may not yield to market forces, because the issue is complicated and our choices at the checkout may accidentally do more harm than good.

It seems clear the solution will not be no packaging - it will be better packaging, dreamed up in research and development labs of the kind that gave us moisture-proof cellophane all those decades ago

That statement sums up my feelings. I just wonder if the newly dreamed up packaging will have some other horrible side effect that has to be combated in the future.

 

[jo-jo]

I'm curious, the meal delivery services, what kind of packaging do they have? It just irks me that I can't get a lid on my soda at disney, but people are getting a meal delivered a few times a week at home, with a bunch of little bags of food is ok. Or as someone mentioned the K cups. Or disposable diapers....how come there isn't a study if everyone used cloth diapers 10% of the time that would save 5 million diapers a day from going into landfills.

I'm not an angel, I use baggies at times, use tupperware at times, 90% of grocery shopping is with reusable bags,but usually at walmart I'm using their bags. We recycle boxes, bottles, cans plastic. We have cars from 92 and 96. But grand kids come for dinner and we have 17 eating....paper plates all the way.

 

[mrodgers]

Garbage can in 2 bedrooms. Garbage can in bathroom. Garbage can in the kitchen under the sink double lined because of kitchen scraps. 2 garbage cans tucked in next to seats in the living room. 6 garbage cans using 7 liners that I use grocery bags. Some of them get dumped but the kitchen double bags and bathroom get pulled often and disposed of rather than dumped into the big can. Also a small can in the shed, but it will sit for a year sometimes before I have to pull it.

Double bag for my lunch every day at work. I use it about a week or until they rip.

Send the kids home with stuff in grocery bags. Send stuff and receive stuff from my mother in grocery bags. If I take a change of clothes to work I use a grocery bag. I have my microfiber towels for washing the car folded and in grocery bags in the cabinets in the bathroom. I take them to work to use to collect and carry samples.

Better would be people able to recognize that I am a male in my 40's and not an 80 year old lady and I am perfectly capable of carrying my groceries in more than 1 item in each double bag like last time. I walked out with 9 items and 18 grocery bags.


Ok, so reusable bags for the grocery store and purchasing can liners. 13 gallon is the smallest size that I know of. that's a heck of a lot more plastic than the grocery bags. More plastic because they are thicker and more plastic to make a 13 gallon bag than a 2 gallon bag.

So I'll use reusable bags. I don't specifically go grocery shopping. As I drive past on my way home from work, I'll stop. So I have to keep reusable bags in my car. Piled up on the front seat I guess, I hope no one is going to go to lunch with me or anything because my dirty bicycle is in the hatch with the rear seats folded down. I don't want to use bags for my food that is all greasy from my bicycle's chain, cogs, and derailleurs. Oh wait, I didn't take the car, I took the truck. My bags are in the car. Now I have to every morning get the bags out of one vehicle to put in the vehicle I am going to take. Whoops, again, I didn't take either the car or the truck but the motorcycle. My saddle bags can handle the few groceries I buy, but not with a bunch of thick canvas reusable bags. Those take up most of the room so I guess I won't be riding the motorcycle any more.

 

[Turksmom]

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).

San Francisco Bay Coffee Company makes pods for Keurig that only have a plastic rim around the edge, rather than a cup. Not perfect, but much better.

 

[Floridaman999]

Love my Keurig.

 

[kerry1379]

Against. I need plastic bags to contain my 15 year old incontinent with GI issues son with disabilities' diapers. (I am not against using cloth diapers for an infant when most of the time, the diapers really aren't THAT bad. But there is no way I am going there now.) Otherwise I can guarantee the wonderful people that collect our garbage would hate me. I would assume nursing homes and hospitals also need them for similar and additional reasons.

Ultimately this costs me more. And perhaps I wouldn't mind so much if I felt that all these ban weren't just taking the "easy" route and going after the consumers to appear as if they are "doing something for the environment." Go after the companies that use so much plastic for packaging-in seemingly everything! The plastic bags I use is so small in comparison to that. If we are going to do something for the environment, let's really do something. This seems like an empty gesture designed mostly to make us feel good without really wanting to tackle the problem.

 

[Firsttimer15]

I am totally in favour of the ban. I keep foldable reusable baskets in my house that I will take along when grocery shopping.I also have a bunch of fabric bags that I use and which fold nicely to fit in a purse to bring along.
It needs every single person on this planet to make an effort to save it and this cannot be achieved by being lazy and making every decision based on personal convenience.
I live in Europe and even back in the 90’s when I first lived in the States I was appalled how the environment gets treated over there.

The coffee chains here have reusable plastic mugs which you get for a small deposit. When you come back next day you return your old one and get a new one.
People take their own Tupper to the supermarket when buying things from the deli counters just to name a few things that are done here to reduce the plastic.
It is so shocking to see the dirty beaches full of it the poor animals starved by it and so on. I think everyone should go see it

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

In terms of K-Cups at Aldi they sell K-Cups where when you are done with the K-Cup you let it cool off then you can take off the filter inside and recycle the plastic around it. When I bought it it was probably 6 months ago and I noticed it was only in certain flavors at that time. Anywho it was a little challenging (I'd recommend doing it over the trash can) but it did work. The boxes and the K-Cups themselves were labled something like "recyclable" not exactly sure the wording. There may be other places and brands out there that do that as well.