Restrictions on their use are in place in almost a dozen US states and in many other countries around the world. And in many cases, these efforts have been successful at eliminating new sales of thin, wispy plastic bags that float up into trees, clog waterways, leech microplastics into soil and water and harm marine life. (Of course, these restrictions don't address the plastic bags already out there that will take centuries to decompose.)
But this environmental success story of sorts masks another problem.
I made it about halfway through that article before my eyes glazed over.
ReplyDeleteWe've always gotten two uses out of the flimsy grocery bags. Once for groceries, then as trash bags for small waste cans.
But the wife makes grocery bags out of cotton Duck cloth. They are tough and can hold a lot of weight, probably ten plastic bags worth of groceries.
From the very beginning I wondered what the problem was with regular old unbleached paper shopping bags. They always seemed to me to be the most environmentally friendly way to go. And to those that would decry their use because trees need to be cut down to produce them I would say 'They'll grow back".
ReplyDeleteTrees are America's Renewable Resource.
Use them. Nature renews them.
Good grief, where to begin with this. They ignore the fact that studies have shown that re-using bags can spread bacteria to fresh fruits and vegetables if the bag isn't properly cleaned after each use. Of course, then the frequent cleaning of the bags would add to increased water consumption, detergent use, etc.
ReplyDeleteFuck em!
ReplyDeleteThe only "single use plastic bags" are made by hefty and glad.
ReplyDeleteI always thought the brown bags were the best but the enviro whackos insisted were killing trees. As usual they never think things through.
ReplyDeleteSo plastic bags are bad and you shouldn't use them to carry all the food that is wrapped and bagged in plastic because plastic bags are bad.
ReplyDeleteI hate this world.
Cashiers love when you hand them a wad of reusable plastic sacks and say, "Here, use these so I don't need to buy yours."
ReplyDeleteCheck out slows down.
Encourages me to use my bags at self-checkout so I don't slow people up buying recycling bags with cashier checkout.
Save The Planet.
Like many of you, i'm old enough to remember being told (ha!) that using 'wispy plastic bags' was going to save the trees. I also remember being told that 'wispy plastic bags' are bad for the environment because they end up in streams, rivers, oceans, blowing in the wind, etc. Not mine, they don't. Mine get recycled as small trashcan liners, and we go through about 5 per week. The rest get wadded up and bagged in a 'wispy plastic bag' and recycled, or trashed. The reason they end up in streams, lakes, rivers, and oceans is that dumb MFs put them there.
ReplyDeleteSame thing we do with ours. I prefer the Piggly Wiggly bags over Walmart's because they're much bigger and fit the cans better.
DeleteSpeaking of 'dumb MFs', Sacramento Channel 3 just showed footage of homeless camps that were flooded when the American River rose because of the recent rains. They were warned they needed to move but they said that they either couldn't or they had nowhere else to go.
DeleteSo it's not okay for police to take their belongings but it's fine and dandy when Ma Nature washes their tents, plastic bags and human waste downstream. What a bunch of dumb MFs.
First bag-ban I remember reading about was in - where else - California. What happened was sales of wastebasket liners surged. Yep, great environmental win there. I've used my grocery bags for trash for years and years. Now, in my home state, they've done the 10-cent bag fee. Well, I've been saving bags for quite a while. But it still sucks, because even in the self-checkout, it still slows down the process.
DeleteWhen they started that 10-cents-a-bag shite around here, I started bringing my own, Home Depot bags to Lowes and vice versa, and handing them to the cashier. Worth the price of admission every time. On the other hand, Walmart seems to have stopped charging for the (reuseable) bags at the self checkout. They're no good for wet garbage, though.
DeleteEverything the Left touches turns to shit.
ReplyDeleteOne tote over the line sweet Jesus...one tote over the line....!!
ReplyDeleteha!
DeleteThose bags will become the petroleum reserves of a future eon.
ReplyDeleteDaryl
I just had a convo with my local Walmart mgr who called me when I filled out a poor satisfaction survey.
ReplyDeleteApparently all the Walmarts in Washington are going to completely cease all bags as of April 18th. No thin wispy ones which were outlawed a couple years back. No thick reusable ones which by law they had to charge $0.08 for. Same with paper bags - nope.
Only bags you can get there will be the canvas reusable ones you can buy there or bring your own.
I told manager dude they were hypocrites since they were certainly going to be sending their product out the door in single use plastic and paper packaging. They were just virtue signalling and their actions aren't going to result in doing a dang thing.
In fact I told him the minute they started doing that, then I would respond to them as they are treating me - like a customer they don't respect and a person they are trying to force change my behavior. I'm not going to patronize a business that thinks that way.
Told him I'd be not only spending my money at his competitors, but that I'd make sure to use more bags from them and throw a few in a landfill in Walmarts honor.
Fuck them.
And read recently where much of US recycling is sent to China, the biggest abuser of dumping plastic in the ocean. Go figure.
ReplyDeleteSteve S6
Told dark flavored city cashier that I'd just bought 1400 bags and planned to increase my carbon footprint. Then told her IBurned them in my burn barrels. She looked quizzically at that and said" what be a burn barrel?pretty well sums up the state of the union....
ReplyDeleteShortly after the bag ban was started here in the PNW, a professor from one of the Oregon universities did a study that came to these same conclusions. The reusable bags had higher environmental costs, etc. Like much of the other plastic in the ocean, I do not know where it comes from as I have recycled before it was required (back when we used to get a few shekels for our efforts) and do not litter, in fact if I am camping, fishing or other I usually pick up trash in my area.
ReplyDeleteI do not use the self-checkout as it puts someone out of work and unless the store wants to offer me a discount it is not going to happen. I tend to reuse bags with competitor's logos on them as a slight jab to the store.
Remember the old days? "Would you like paper or plastic?" A few local retailers offer the old style paper bags now, but they're charging anywhere from 10 to 25 cents. "Single use" bags were outlawed in Canada late last year and have all but disappeared (seriously, it's like a little lottery win to find one) and everybody's selling the thicker ones now.
ReplyDeleteI've been collecting plastic bags since forever and I have three piles of them in a closet, which stacked end to end would be maybe 5 feet high. No clue how many there are but it's easily a few thousand. I've also been grabbing boxes of kitchen and garbage bags from Costco when I can afford it, so I have years and years worth of those on hand. I'm as ready as I can be for the green future.
But this article? Someone must have a "climate quota" to meet because it hits the usual buzzwords: carbon footprint, climate blah blah, sustainable, resource intensive, and so on. The more their narratives fall apart the more they push their talking points. Whether it's this, Ukraine, J6, tranny agenda, gun control, Corona origins...you name it, it's all the same.
"paper or plastic"? Plastic, please. We have cats. (quizzical young cashier expression) Cats mean cat litter. "Sigh. Plastic, please".
ReplyDelete"years and years" Y'know, those things are designed to biodegrade rather quickly. I had stuff in storage for a few years. The handy-dandy local grocery store bags disintegrated.