Plastic bags?

Hey gang,

Just wondering if it bothered anyone else as much as it bothers me how we overuse plastic bags. I use paper bags when I do groceries and get pretty agitated when I go somewhere and they insist on doubling up every plastic bag or packing them lightly so I end up with 15 of them. I don't know what the situation is like in other parts of the globe, but here in Quebec, they're really careless in their usage of them. I've been tempted to write a letter to my mp about either charging people for them so they're forced to use less, or promoting the usage of reusable bags by selling them at stores. I am bothered that people don't pay more attention to this.

Whet about you guys?

 

My oldest son used to be bothered by this also...he REFUSED plastic bags when he came to visit me and we went shopping together. He would either carry out his stuff in his hands/arms or just unbag the stuff to put in the cart & hand back the bags.

Some grocery store will give you a 10cent discount for each bag you bring in from home & reuse, and/or ask if you want paper bags instead.

 

Wow! That would be nice to see around here. There are even some grocery store who don't carry paper bags!

 

They're actually banning plastic bags in one part of New Zealand...or was it Australia. I can't remember the exact location,but I think it's a good idea. Banning seems a little over the line to some people,but if it's a problem,than it's a problem. I don't see why using cloth bags should be a big deal to people..even more so since cloth bags are far more sturdy than the plastic ones. Who hasn't had one of those plastic bags break,and your groceries go rolling everywhere lol.

 

That might be Australia, i haven't heard of banning here, but it's possible. I used to work in a supermarket where we had a general rule for an average of 7 items per bag - that cut things down quite a lot actually. We also sold those big reuseable bags too. We were more than happy to back into cloth bags, or help people pack their groceries into backpacks or boxes.

There's one chain of supermarkets here that don't give away bags, they charge 5c per bag. That way people buy the minimal amount of bags. That supermarkets also makes boxes available for people to pack their groceries into. The boxes would be the ones that the store got their stock in - does that make sense? Just basic re-use!

Maybe some suggestions you could pass onto the Head Offices of your local supermarkets

 

but paper bags suck too, because they require lots of dead trees, and nasty paper mills. I say, start bringing your own cloth bags from home.

 

At least wildlife does not choke on paper bags and they do biodgrade.

 

I've begun refusing bags whenever I go shopping....gets me strange looks at times, but I honestly could care less. I've almost always got a bag or backpack with me, so I use that instead.

 

The old brown paper grocery bags do break down and become harmless . But they also weight more and if not properly design they break when fully loaded with grocery. if the plastic bag was recycle the proper way theres nothing wrong with it. but if people throw them everywhere like even the oceans they become a problem. i rather see plastic since it would save lots of trees .

 

Know where's actually the worst about using a whole bag just for one item....the farmer's market. Nearly everyone there has got at least a couple of bags over each arm. A lot of the vendors reuse plastic bags i think, though not all of them. Wonder if it'd be worth it to either make or find a cheap way to buy many big cloth bags and then just give them away to people who promise to use them instead of plastic bags......

 

I bet they have some paper bags...

 

To make paper bags it requires Trees i rather see proper recycle of plastic bags than millions of tree cut just to provide grocery bags.

 

I would like to see supermarkets have no plastic bags available for shoppers at all. Shoppers would readily buy the environmentally friendly bags at $1 each if that was all that was available. Because they are still readily available, shoppers will continue to use them. Just make them go cold turkey is what I say and cut them off suddenly, without warning!

 

Thats a lot of money for a bags. so you could spend 20 dollars in bags alone . tell that to a family of 5 or more .

 

in my area Mobile Alabama wallyworld aka walmart has started using white bags now because people were complaning of seeing all those blue walmart bags in the street, lakes, ditches, exc. I love my patched up old cloth bags but some of the larger stors dont like it and I get fallowed out and bag serched like I'm taking some thing extra home. However I now get them to staple my paperwork to the bag and things go better now. I love our earth and I hope others in my area jump on the boat.

 

It actually takes more resources and energy to recycle those plastics. They should either find a way to be economically smart about recycling our fine resources, or stop using them for throw-away packaging & containers.. Also, paper doesnt fuck up the environment how non-recyclers (there are many of them..) do with plastic.

 

You rather level thounsands of acrees of trees to make paper for paper bags? just make a strong bag that you must carry back to store to be refill and your done with the problem.

 

I think the cloth bags would solve the problem,if most people would use them.
There is a store here,called Aldis. You have to pay for bags there...I've noticed that most people don't buy the bags. They either bring cloth bags,bring old plastic bags that they're reusing,or they don't use any bags at all. That's actually a good idea.