No more bags

[bpesch]

This practice is becoming more common everywhere, and I’m all for it. Plastic bags are evil for real. They don’t degrade quickly and harm wildlife.

The solution to this is to recycle and reuse them. Easey Peasey.

 

[luvsJack]

During natural disasters, the rescue departments and city officials need sufficient water pressure so they can use fire hydrants and continue to provide a clean source of drinking water. They CANNOT do that if Uncle Jim is hosing off his boat and Aunt Martha is filling the bathtub and every pot and pan in the house with tap water. That's why they ask that people buy bottled water.

The warnings about not drinking the water are usually due to the condition of the natural water source. If Nestle or another bottling company pumps up and uses up all the water, the remaining water table CANNOT supply people's needs, and it often is contaminated because the treatment plant is working overtime and cannot filter out everything when they don't have a constant source of fresh water.

Why not make the simple change to carry your gym water bottle all the time? You're going to be thirsty eventually!

Uhmmmm no. It has nothing to do with hosing off boats or collecting water.

During Katrina the power was knocked out and the water towers were messed up. We had no water for days because they couldn’t do anything with the water tower.

When the water got back on, because of the lack of pressure and the need to test it we could only use if for bathing.

We had to have bottled water. In disaster areas they will always have to have some kind of way to purchase water-bottle, can, whatever for these very reasons.

 

[Ms.Minnie]

Just FYI; I was just at my local Disney outlet store here in NJ and made a small purchase. The cast member gave me a plastic bag with no questions asked and no comments about there being no more bags in the future...not sure what that means but maybe the powers that be have rethought the plan to eliminate plastic bags?

 

[Josh Hendy]

Why bother recycling at all if it makes zero difference?

Quite so.

The only form of recycling that makes any economic or environmental sense is aluminum because of the extremely high cost of the energy required to smelt from aluminum ore. And recycling other forms of metal to some degree, depending on various factors. But aluminum is the big one.

Every thing else is just window dressing, guilt tripping, virtue signaling, and flat-out scamming people.

Other forms of recycling don't just make ZERO difference ... due to inefficiencies and misdirected resources they cost the economy more (make you poorer) and they degrade the environment.

I do not envy Disney, trying to run a profitable company and be a good corporate citizen while dealing with an army of well-meaning but misinformed do-gooders ...

 

[bellangie]

They started this at the store I shop at this summer. The first time I went I bought the bag, the next time I just put what I bought in the other plastic bags I had from the other stores since it was in the mall. I will never remember to bring one to the mall.

 

[AurumPunzel]

Just FYI; I was just at my local Disney outlet store here in NJ and made a small purchase. The cast member gave me a plastic bag with no questions asked and no comments about there being no more bags in the future...not sure what that means but maybe the powers that be have rethought the plan to eliminate plastic bags?

I have a feeling that's the case. When I first heard about the 'going green' announcement, I was strongly against it for a variety of reasons, mostly because of the cost of the reusables and the fact I've doubted that Disney Stores are the right sort of place to be 'going green', especially when you consider the fact that the only other places that only offer expensive reusables tend to be wholesalers and certain stores like IKEA, all of which are standalone locations that do offer you the means to carry out the purchase bagless, not to mention that it is yet another dubious example of virtue-signalling on the whole plastics debate that's become a hot topic as of late, and will only end up backfiring. When I went to New York this year (before the announcement) and last year, of the plastic bags I've ended up with when I went shopping there and in Jersey Gardens, I've found the Disney Store ones to be of superior quality compared to those from other stores such as Target, and even the ones the Disney Stores in the UK use, which often rip apart when laden with dolls, figures and other boxed items, though my only complaint about them is the lower PCR content (75% compared to 95% used in the UK) and that strong plastic smell they give off, which is enough to fill up a car, especially with the jumbo-sized one I ended up with when I went on a shopping spree there during the Easter sale, though that's probably just my sensitive nose. What I would have rather seen was Disney just charging a very benign fee for the plastic bags (something like 5¢ or 10¢ or whatever the local ordinances allow) like my country already does, and promoted reusing and recycling them, not to mention having an internal recycling system for the bags like the supermarkets (or at least the ones I've been to such as Walmart) already do.

When I researched deeply into how truly 'environmentally-friendly' their reusable bags are compared to plastic (when responsibly used and recycled), I've found that their reusable bags (and other reusable bags made out of the same non-woven polypropylene fabric) have a far greater carbon footprint due to the amount of energy required to produce them, not to mention that, since they're made in China, the amount of emissions from logistics would be phenomenal, and thus would necessitate around 14-30 reuses to offset the same impact as one plastic bag, whereas the Disney Store plastic bags that were made in the USA require far less, and are actually perfectly reusable for shopping and other purposes, though I wouldn't reuse them as binliners or cleaning up after your pet since they're too good for that sort of purpose, and who on earth would want to do that to a bag that has such a cute design on? The other thing about the NWPP reusable bags is that they shed microplastic a lot faster, especially when soaked and/or when reused heavily to the extent that the bag will start to fluff, and I had that happen to the small 75¢ tote I ended up with last year, not to mention that when they're disposed of, they take even longer than most thin plastic bags to properly degrade (around 450-500 years, depending on climate), although I don't know if these sort of bags are as recyclable as H/LDPE plastic bags where facilities exist, but I can't seem to find any info about their recyclability.

 

[mom2rtk]

Just FYI; I was just at my local Disney outlet store here in NJ and made a small purchase. The cast member gave me a plastic bag with no questions asked and no comments about there being no more bags in the future...not sure what that means but maybe the powers that be have rethought the plan to eliminate plastic bags?

If sales dipped when the bags went away, I have no doubt they would reconsider very quickly. I know when I passed on a purchase since I would have had to carry it bagless (no other bags with us) they quickly produced a plastic bag and closed my sale.

 

[AurumPunzel]

If sales dipped when the bags went away, I have no doubt they would reconsider very quickly. I know when I passed on a purchase since I would have had to carry it bagless (no other bags with us) they quickly produced a plastic bag and closed my sale.

That's the feeling I had. Especially when you consider how likely people are going to bring their own bags to a Disney Store, let alone Costco, or in the case of California, supermarkets, the chances of that happening are rather slim.

 

[tup1830]

I wonder how much theft happens if people buy things and put it on the bottom of a stroller (no bag)? Its a lot harder to go through someone's bag of stuff than seeing an expensive shirt/toy/trinket and just swiping it.

 

[AurumPunzel]

I wonder how much theft happens if people buy things and put it on the bottom of a stroller (no bag)? Its a lot harder to go through someone's bag of stuff than seeing an expensive shirt/toy/trinket and just swiping it.

It seems pretty easy. Same goes for using the reusable bags to shoplift a department store, and that did happen once because I saw a clip on a news article about a shoplifting incident last year, and the suspects used the jumbo-sized Disney Store reusable bags to commit the crime, so cumbersome reusable bags being a shoplifting threat in a mall compared to a supermarket pretty much is moot point.

 

[RapunzelIsMyHomeGirl]

Just FYI; I was just at my local Disney outlet store here in NJ and made a small purchase. The cast member gave me a plastic bag with no questions asked and no comments about there being no more bags in the future...not sure what that means but maybe the powers that be have rethought the plan to eliminate plastic bags?

I shopped at 2 outlets in NJ this month, and 2 normal retail locations for a total of 4 stores in NJ. 3 of the 4 are continuing to advise they will be switching fully to no bags; And 1 of the 3 (an outlet location) no longer had plastic bags and I had the option to use my own bag (I put my small items in my purse) or buy the recyclable bag. For the locations that still had bags, they sometimes made a performance of it (no negative connotation) with something along the lines of "once this stack of plastic bags is done that's it".

Possibly 2/4 and not just 1/4 had fully made the switch, but I made many visits to the stores so I can't remember which was which all of the time.

I wonder if I know which outlet you mean, b/c out of the two outlets I visited, one is definitely the least informative of the new policy coming.

Also, it depends on the associate. Some just put things in the plastic bags without informing anyone, probably due to habit.

TDLR: for the many visits I made to the disney store this summer, particularly August, the consensus is the bags are still going. One store has gone fully bagless.

 

[AurumPunzel]

I shopped at 2 outlets in NJ this month, and 2 normal retail locations for a total of 4 stores in NJ. 3 of the 4 are continuing to advise they will be switching fully to no bags; And 1 of the 3 (an outlet location) no longer had plastic bags and I had the option to use my own bag (I put my small items in my purse) or buy the recyclable bag. For the locations that still had bags, they sometimes made a performance of it (no negative connotation) with something along the lines of "once this stack of plastic bags is done that's it".

Possibly 2/4 and not just 1/4 had fully made the switch, but I made many visits to the stores so I can't remember which was which all of the time.

I wonder if I know which outlet you mean, b/c out of the two outlets I visited, one is definitely the least informative of the new policy coming.

Also, it depends on the associate. Some just put things in the plastic bags without informing anyone, probably due to habit.

TDLR: for the many visits I made to the disney store this summer, particularly August, the consensus is the bags are still going. One store has gone fully bagless.

I seriously think this whole 'going green' is going to massively flop, because people are either going to keep buying the 99c bags, never to bring them back every time (which is easy to forget since they're completely surrounded by other stores still dishing out bags), or are going to avoid the Disney Stores like the plague, knowing that paying so much for a bag or lugging their own bags around before shopping there is going to be a massive hassle. Even as a loyal guest, I wouldn't be able to do that.

 

[RapunzelIsMyHomeGirl]

We'll all see how it turns out.

My personal reaction has been the following:

I kept buying their blue bags for quite honestly months because they were cheap, cute, useful, AND I never remembered to bring them back. Much of the time I don't actually plan to go to the mall/disney store but end up there. Carrying their particular bag around the mall feels cumbersome and I forget. I do better at places like Target or Walmart. I keep a bag in my car and use it as my basket when I'm walking around the store. For some reason I don't think to grab the bag when going to or in the mall.

I kept buying the blue bags for the aforementioned reasons. I actually really do reuse these bags alot, just not for shopping at the Disney store. They are great for traveling and weekend trips.

I eventually stopped giving in and buying them because I didn't need anymore of the bags and felt like I was wasting money. And if they truly are going to stop using the plastic bags, they just need to stop already. I eventually realized they were taking too long phasing out the bags so I wasn't going to feel guilty choosingcthe plastic bag if they were still giving it. In addition, I tend to reuse the plastic bags for gifts, etc. because they are so darn cute.

I actually have been looking into getting a reusable bag that can fold into itself and is cheap, and can clip onto my purse. We shop the Disney store so frequently that I'd really like to solve this bag issue and be all set to have a comfortable reusable bag always on me.

TDLR: Disney's "planet saving" strategy is working on me.

 

[TropicalDIS]

Quite so.

The only form of recycling that makes any economic or environmental sense is aluminum because of the extremely high cost of the energy required to smelt from aluminum ore. And recycling other forms of metal to some degree, depending on various factors. But aluminum is the big one.

Every thing else is just window dressing, guilt tripping, virtue signaling, and flat-out scamming people.

Other forms of recycling don't just make ZERO difference ... due to inefficiencies and misdirected resources they cost the economy more (make you poorer) and they degrade the environment.

I do not envy Disney, trying to run a profitable company and be a good corporate citizen while dealing with an army of well-meaning but misinformed do-gooders ...

Right. So we should just continue to throw out all our plastic and let the stuff continue to fill the oceans?

Spouting off that recyling plastic doesn't make a difference to the environment is inaccurate. There are costs to doing so, sure, but naturally it is going to cost money to implement additional programs other than garbage pickup.

There's a long term benefit to recycling plastic (and metals) and if it costs a nickel or a dime here and there, i really don't care.

Never understood getting bent out of shape about paying $0.05 for a plastic bag. You just spent $120 on groceries and $0.10 is going to end you? Come on.

 

[AurumPunzel]

Right. So we should just continue to throw out all our plastic and let the stuff continue to fill the oceans?

Spouting off that recyling plastic doesn't make a difference to the environment is inaccurate. There are costs to doing so, sure, but naturally it is going to cost money to implement additional programs other than garbage pickup.

There's a long term benefit to recycling plastic (and metals) and if it costs a nickel or a dime here and there, i really don't care.

Never understood getting bent out of shape about paying $0.05 for a plastic bag. You just spent $120 on groceries and $0.10 is going to end you? Come on.

That's the thing. Contrary to popular belief, plastic bags can actually be recycled, and as a matter of fact, Disney's plastic bags already contain a huge percentage of PCR content, so the best people could do is to reuse them to death and then recycle them at the nearest bag recycling point in a supermarket or in the recycling bin if their local municipality includes bags as part of their household plastics recycling programme. Even one of the CMs I chatted with in one of the Disney Stores I've been to in the UK said that she does that, and then would recycle them after they reach the end of their useful life. Sooner or later, there will be a massive domestic plastics recycling revolution that'll render phaseouts redundant, while there could be a minimum stipulated thickness (perhaps 2.25mil or 1.96mil) to ensure that the bags won't get entangled in trees and other portions of nature, and can easily be processed in MRFs.

Paying a fee as benign as 5¢ or 10¢ for such a large shop is nothing compared to splurging $200 in the Disney Store and then being forced to pay 99¢ for a reusable bag (or $2 if all the purchases won't fit into the one largest reusable they sell) that's not likely ever going to get reused in a Disney Store, let alone in a Costco, and that's why I think Disney should just simply charge 5¢ or 10¢ for a plastic bag, regardless of size. Even in the UK, the Disney Stores have been charging for plastic bags since Disney UK announced that back (IIRC) on Earth Day 2009, with a portion of the charge going to the Woodland Trust, which is a great environmental cause because trees are required to make our air cleaner and to offset CO2 from vehicles and industry, and that was long before Wales mandated the UK's first charge for plastic and paper bags back in 2011, and before England became the final part of the UK to mandate a charge back in 2015.

 

[Pkltm]

Just FYI; I was just at my local Disney outlet store here in NJ and made a small purchase. The cast member gave me a plastic bag with no questions asked and no comments about there being no more bags in the future...not sure what that means but maybe the powers that be have rethought the plan to eliminate plastic bags?

We went to the Oh My Disney event at our local store, they said then when asked that the bags are still going, but it will be once the store actually runs out. No point in throwing out the bags they already have.

 

[AurumPunzel]

We went to the Oh My Disney event at our local store, they said then when asked that the bags are still going, but it will be once the store actually runs out. No point in throwing out the bags they already have.

I'd hate to imagine what would happen come Black Friday, which is when the negatives of 'going green' really are going to show. I can imagine so many irate guests remonstrating with CMs over the bags and some having to struggle with the purchases stark bagless around the mall while trying to avoid being knocked over as people rush into other stores like bulls-in-a-china-shop.

 

[Pkltm]

I'd hate to imagine what would happen come Black Friday, which is when the negatives of 'going green' really are going to show. I can imagine so many irate guests remonstrating with CMs over the bags and some having to struggle with the purchases stark bagless around the mall while trying to avoid being knocked over as people rush into other stores like bulls-in-a-china-shop.

Plastic bags have already been banned from many communities. This really isn't something new. These communities have survived Black Fridays and Christmas rushes. If people are that upset about having to spend an extra 99 cents for a bag on a black friday purchase then they should stay home or not make the purchase.

 

[AurumPunzel]

Plastic bags have already been banned from many communities. This really isn't something new. These communities have survived Black Fridays and Christmas rushes. If people are that upset about having to spend an extra 99 cents for a bag on a black friday purchase then they should stay home or not make the purchase.

Yeah, but most only affect supermarkets or other food stores, while some also ban them in other retail stores, but still offer a cheap option for a very small fee (usually paper or ban-compliant plastic that's thick enough to be legally classified as a 'reusable bag') if they don't happen to have a bag on them or enough to accommodate all their purchases in. The issue here is that Disney have undemocratised choice and are doing this as an excuse to generate more money while ignoring other issues such as the large amount of non-recyclable plastic that's present in packaging. Even in the UK, we still have the democracy of choice for a small fee while most tend to bring in their own more-practical reusable bags or even reuse an existing plastic bag, since my government decided against a ban based on a report the UK Environment Agency conducted a while ago into the lifecycle of plastic bags vs alternatives.

 

[Pkltm]

Yeah, but most only affect supermarkets or other food stores, while some also ban them in other retail stores, but still offer a cheap option for a very small fee (usually paper or ban-compliant plastic that's thick enough to be legally classified as a 'reusable bag') if they don't happen to have a bag on them or enough to accommodate all their purchases in. The issue here is that Disney have undemocratised choice and are doing this as an excuse to generate more money while ignoring other issues such as the large amount of non-recyclable plastic that's present in packaging. Even in the UK, we still have the democracy of choice for a small fee while most tend to bring in their own more-practical reusable bags or even reuse an existing plastic bag, since my government decided against a ban based on a report the UK Environment Agency conducted a while ago into the lifecycle of plastic bags vs alternatives.

I don't consider 99 cents a large fee. The world needs to change and we as humans need to adapt. Disney made a choice and consumers can vote with their wallet, I bet that sales will not decrease.