Plastic Bags (Page 3): Plastic bags don't kill the environment, people do.

St.Mary's

Plastic bags don't kill the environment, people do.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

StanMac wrote:

I like the plastic bags primarily because I can carry at least a half dozen of them full of groceries to or from my car by hanging them on my forearms and I don’t have to mess with getting a cart into the already full cart corral. Try that with paper bags. I do take my used bags to the recycle bins at the grocery store.

Stan

I put my hand through the loops in the T-shirt bag and carry the bag on my wrist. The wrist joint is made up of larger bones than the fingers, so there's less pressure on the joint carrying it on my wrist than there would be wrapping my fingers around the loop. If you just spread your fingers and maybe catch the edge of the loop the bag won't slide off.

marine73 Loc: Modesto California

Shellback wrote:

First time I experienced no plastic bags was California - that was in the spring of 2017. I'm glad to see them banned as I live in the midwest and see them in the fields, fences, trees, gutters, etc... In the cities/states where they are not being used, there are no bags blowing around and the landscape is cleaner.

Ca may have put a ban on plastic bags but stores are still providing a heavy duty plastic bag to use as a reusable bag. Lowes where I live still gives plastic bags for free. I can still get plastic straws at most places by asking for a straw. You have to ask for plastic utensils for carry out, styrofoam has been banned for several years.

My city is going to a three can garbage pick up system. Black, green , blue. Black picked up weekly an is the everyday household trash, green is compostable material and blue is the recycling picked up every other week starting in January. and the garbage company/city charges more for pickup.

Stephan G

Scruples wrote:

Part of the reason for no more plastic bags, is be... (show quote)

One more reason to keep plastic out of oceans is that plastic has been found in human fetuses.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/22/microplastics-revealed-in-placentas-unborn-babies

Haenzel Loc: South Holland, The Netherlands

What's wrong with a big-shopper that you can use a thousands times or more? For vegetables and fruit we use light "netting bags" that you can use as many times as you like. For bread we have cotton bags that we bring into the supermarket. No more plastic bags for me...

Fun fact, we have to recycle plastic. New plastic bags are provided for free in order to collect old plastic for recycling.

paulrph1 Loc: Washington, Utah

jerryc41 wrote:

In NY, stores no longer provide plastic bags for y... (show quote)

Paper, Now next issue. What do we do with all of the plastic containers that the rest of your good come in?
Bag are only a small part.

BebuLamar

Haenzel wrote:

What's wrong with a big-shopper that you can use a thousands times or more? For vegetables and fruit we use light "netting bags" that you can use as many times as you like. For bread we have cotton bags that we bring into the supermarket. No more plastic bags for me...

Fun fact, we have to recycle plastic. New plastic bags are provided for free in order to collect old plastic for recycling.

Washing.

Mustanger Loc: Grants Pass, Oregon USA

Why aren’t all plastic bags biodegradable? Why are the thick plastic bags so hard to fold up neatly and such an odd size that is too small ? I detest the new unbio thick bags and am glad to see good paper bags back.

Amielee Loc: Eastern Washington State

I summer in WA. and winter in AZ. In WA the light weight shopping bags are outlawed, the heavy weight are 8 cents a bag. In AZ the light weight bags are still used. In WA I used to give the used light weight bags to the food bank. Now I use cloth bags there. In AZ I save the light weight bags and when I get back to WA give them to my daughter who uses them for doggy bags. The very few paper bags that I get I save and use to mail packages and for book covers like I did in grade school.

bamfordr Loc: Campbell CA

tradio wrote:

Are they back on paper?
Here in SW Ohio, plastic is still king but the city is contemplating outlawing styrofoam carry out containers and plastic straws.
We always recycle our plastic bags as many times as we can but with the Kroger bags, your'e lucky to get in the house before they rip open.

We do too. Thin film plastic bags go in the (cloth) recycling bag. What was really frustrating was learning that most plastic bags sent for recycling aren’t recycled. Too expensive and little demand. Landfill. Still, some being recycled is better than none.

Lucasdv123

In my neck of the woods the plastic bags land in cotton fields and when it is taken to get sold,the value goes down cause of plastic bag contamination .not good for the environment.

mikenolan Loc: Lincoln Nebraska

rlv567 wrote:

"Good" and "bad" interchange for most things about every 10 years, just as "settled science"!!! And yet, so many people allow themselves to be controlled mindlessly by them.

Loren - in Beautiful Baguio City

Remember, we have always been at war with EastAsia.

As I recall, the biggest complaint about paper bags is the amount of water needed to make them and the chemicals needed, which can foul streams and rivers.

SteveFranz Loc: Durham, NC

Scruples wrote:

Part of the reason for no more plastic bags, is be... (show quote)

The plastic problem we have is a plastic DISPOSAL problem.

In other countries no matter how much you spend, you will pay extra for a bag. My last trip to Iceland we spent over $200 at a woolen shop, the bag was about a dollar extra.

fetzler Loc: North West PA

Tdearing wrote:

Plastic bags and water bottles should both be banned. Living in a marina I am constantly netting both from the boat slip and beach. Plastic lobby seems to own our Washington, D.C. politicians.

You do realize that the use of plastic bottles as opposed to glass saves energy ( transportation and cleaning)
Complex problems require complex multidimensional thinking.

mikenolan Loc: Lincoln Nebraska

Quote:

The plastic problem we have is a plastic DISPOSAL problem.

In other countries no matter how much you spend, you will pay extra for a bag. My last trip to Iceland we spent over $200 at a woolen shop, the bag was about a dollar extra.

How does charging a fee for the bag directly address the disposal problem? It may reduce the total number of bags used, but that's not 'disposal'.