Most politicians prefer to pick hardly controversial low-hanging fruit (probably because their alternative “employment” prospects are not bright), instead of showing true character and wielding cudgels to take on truly difference-making issues such as waste and corruption of the public fisc . . .
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Er, the planet’s healthiness is pretty “difference-making.” Just saying.
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I think ban is extreme, but I understand the extra charge. We do overall use a ridiculous amount of bags …ugh, especially those like my parents who feel the need to bag 3 things separately in its own bag, and then place them all in one giant plastic bag. Crazy. But I am not always planning on buying things, but buy things impromptu. To not offer a bag seems extreme.
As an owner of 2 cats with the bags as my cat litter disposal method of choice, I would be majorly inconvenienced if there are no more plastic bags.
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I totally get it. But being here in Seattle for two weeks I’ll go back to the car for the paper bags. It just raises our consciousness.
Regarding the cats (whom I’ve had for many years), my supply of plastic bags far exceeded my need.
In Boston, I (and many urban dwellers) take the subway or walk around and avoid driving into the city, so we would have to have brought a bag out just in case for emergency purchases. If I’m going to a far flung shopping mall or plaza, then I can easily bring bags.
I used to have more bags than needed, but bringing the recycle-able bags on my grocery trips now has really cut down and it’s just about right for my daily scooping needs now. If this gets cut down though, I may be in trouble!
EDIT: I should add that I lived under a “pay for plastic bag” a bit as a visitor to HK, where most establishments will not provide a bag automatically and you have to ask for one. Of course being overseas, I had no bags with me, but this really struck me as a good compromise.
'm in NYC which will start banning plastic bags sometime next year. As a lifelong environmentalist I’m all for it in the long run but like the OP I’m always a little annoyed with these programs that push the onus of changing over onto individual consumers and individual small businesses.
I hope this also. Like most New Yorkers I don’t have a car and shop at a lot of different small food stores rather than one big supermarket so I carry everything home on foot or the subway and bus. Because of that I’ve been carrying my own reuseable shopping bags for years, both those cotton mesh ones and the more baglike ones every store sells now. Even so unless somebody improves the quality of the recycleable bags I’m going to have a problem if I can’t get a plastic bag to carry meat and fish in. [quote=“Gourmanda, post:38, topic:4921”]
Plastics don’t really compost or biodegrade at any appreciable rate in a landfill.
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Nothing really biodegrades in a landfill. Everything in it becomes mummified. One of the first geological studies they did of a landfill in the late 80’s I believe found packaged meat with a 1973 packing date on it that was perfectly red and fresh looking, and only began to turn green and rot once they removed it from the core sample and exposed it to the air. If water or something enters the landfill and begins the process of biodegradation, as happened in Staten Island under a housing development built on top of a landfill some years ago, the whole thing will just start heating up and collapsing into the ground. That’s one of the problems with landfills.
The main thing you find in landfills btw is not plastic but paper. Which could easily be recycled instead of course. I do agree we need to get serious about recycling.
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I presume the meat is wrapped so why would you need a plastic bag?
Last year, England finally caught up with the other component parts of our country in introducing a “pay for bag” requirement.
The only downside is the snide action by our normal supermarket. The regulations say that a supermarket has to charge 5p per single use bag. And the after-tax profits have to be donated to charity. Sounds good for the environment and good for the charity. However, Sainsbury has found a dodge that allows them to keep all the profits - details here - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/shopping-and-consumer-news/11915704/Sainsburys-uses-legal-loophole-to-keep-part-of-new-5p-charity-charge-for-plastic-bags.html
That said, I go to the supermarket now and you almost never see anyone getting the single use bags.
Even if the butcher is careful, a customer accidentally puncturing one package will create messy packages all around it.
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I still bag my meat, fish before throwing them into my reusable tote too. The thin plastic wrap on most meat is very easily punctured, especially by sharp corners from cereal boxes or the like. They also sometimes can be a little wet, and I really don’t need 3 week old fish smell in my canvas tote. I walk to and from the grocery store, so the jostling of goods can cause leakage.
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I am in my 60’s. When I was a kid, supermarkets had meat counters, so your meat was wrapped in wax-coated butcher paper. It didn’t leak. Good thing, since grocery bags were brown paper.
When baggers today ask if I want the meat in plastic, I decline, because it is going into a plastic-lined insulated bag which is easy to wipe clean if there’s a leak, which is seldom. But this makes me think that it would be good if checkouts were equipped with waxed paper bags of some sort which could be used for potentially leaky packages. These would be better, environmentally, than using extra plastic.
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It isn’t my bags I’m as concerned about. I don’t want raw meat/fish juices all over my fruits and veggies. For me that is why I like it in plastic.
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Because:
I hope that soon all the butchers and fishmongers around here will start double-wrapping everything in paper. And that somebody in the bag biz realizes there is money to be made in really leakproof, waterproof bags. Viva la plastic bag ban.
I’m younger than you but still get my fish and occasional land meat from the counter where it’s wrapped in butcher paper. I don’t worry about leaking juices. I suppose the pre-wrapped packages could occasionally cause a problem.
Came across this today -
‘Biodegradable’ Plastics Are A Big Fat Lie
I think the ban is great. We have one, and at this point we are all pros at bringing our own canvas or other reusable bags. We keep a half dozen in the trunk of each car for larger shopping trips.
Like anything, it is a matter of getting used to. Before moving to WA, we didn’t do much recycling because we had to haul our stuff somewhere - there was no pickup. But in WA, there’s a pickup for recycling of all kinds, as well as for compost. When we started composting, it felt very weird. Now, it feels weird to me when I can’t compost something compostable, because there is no place to put it (work, for instance, has no compost containers).
There are so many wrong things we are doing to our planet - it makes me feel better to know we are starting to do some things right.
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I agree. When we were in Germany a couple of years ago, I was kind of flummoxed by finding out that grocery stores there don’t have bags, you have to bring your own. I’m glad I didn’thave too much to carry out in my arms, although it was a bigt armful. My cousin was so used to it he didn’t think to tell us about it ahead of time.
If there’s a ban, I guess we may have to buy bags to pick up after the dog or put in the wastebaskets. It’s okay with me.
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Oh, I’m totally in favor of banning styrofoam containers, if nobody’s going to figure out a reuse or recycle use for them, or reformulate them so that they ARE reusable and/or recyclable…
The thing that gets me is that I was paying for the bags in the price of things that went into them, so I no longer shop at stores that I used to get things bagged at, because I don’t want to keep paying for the banned bags. I’ll mostly buy in bulk then and skip the next unfair thing they come up with at all the other places (they were playing too many games with prices as it was, and this is definately one too many).
I dont mind the plastic ban .The reusable bags are much stronger . As far as plastic I still use them . The ones in the produce section when I need a few items . I dont mind mixing a can of sardines or whatever with certain produce in the same bag. When I am not carrying my reusable bag .There is no charge for the produce plastic bags . And I use them for other things at home.
