Banning Plastic Bags
Oct 23, 2018 01:10:09 #
jerryc41 wrote:
Just posted online: Ulster County, NY is banning the use of plastic bags by stores as of July 15, 2019. Customers should supply their own bags or pay five cents for paper. Smart move.
Oct 23, 2018 05:34:16 #
jerryc41 wrote:
Just posted online: Ulster County, NY is banning the use of plastic bags by stores as of July 15, 2019. Customers should supply their own bags or pay five cents for paper. Smart move.
It has already happened here, ya get used to it.
With all this HooHa about polluting the ocean, I've been hearing/seeing stories about the dumping of military machinery post war. Mountains of tanks, trucks, jeeps, bulldozers etc, dumped in the ocean too expensive to ship home, & too damned mean to give it to locals where ever it was near.
Then there's the amount of shipping sunk or scuttled in the ocean. Now there is the technology to extract it easier, they should be made to remove it & recycle it.
They say you built a ship from the recycled steel from the twin towers, to commemorate the victims.
How about the victims of war. Reclaim & recycle.
Oct 23, 2018 06:29:13 #
Here in the UK began charging 5p for plastic bags started on 5 October 2015, this was a good as a ban as no one wanted to pay at all, in fact the use of plastic bags has fallen by almost 90%. The alternative is that you have to take your own reusable bags which you have to buy for around 30p, these bags are very strong have excellent designs on them, they also last for years.
Oct 23, 2018 06:53:09 #
The plastic bag makers are fighting the switch. They are worried that the move from disposable plastic will eat into their profits.
Oct 23, 2018 08:04:32 #
Been that way in the U.K. for some time - but no paper alternative yet. Large stores have to charge 5p (10p for a 'bag for life'), smaller stores (under 3000sq') don't charge. Many people here have a cotton tote bag for incidental purchases so paper might not be so necessary. It's got to happen!
Oct 23, 2018 08:07:14 #
I made lots of pocket change for candy (and later cigarettes, like an idiot) from returning glass bottles as a kid... I got 5 cents for each bottle IIRC
Oct 23, 2018 08:58:20 #
fetzler
Loc: North West PA
Reusable bags are fine but remember paper bags are degradable and to an extent recyclable. The wood used to make paper comes from managed forests owned by paper companies. You can support American workers in this way.
Oct 23, 2018 09:40:30 #
G Brown wrote:
"It is not the recycling of plastic that is the pro... (show quote)
I agree with everything you've said and I remember as a kid back in the early 1950s picking returnable bottles out of barrels on Trash Day and bringing them to the local store for a refund. TODAY, I think, you'd be hard pressed to find kids willing to pick up cans and bottles from the roadsides to return for refunds. That is beneath them in today's social dynamic. They're too busy getting strained thumbs texting on their iPhones and/or playing computer games while Mommy and Daddy pay the bills.
Oct 23, 2018 09:57:33 #
olemikey
Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida
Reusable fabric bags need to be washed fairly often, they will accumulate nasty bacteria on a per use basis.
Plastic bags and other items somehow end up in the ocean, the pacific has a large area (square miles) sea of plastic garbage - but the petroleum and chemical companies lobby so heavily that it may take decades to reduce plastic - unless the voters force it.
Recycling has slowed to a crawl - seems our plastic is usually so "dirty / contaminated" that even the Chinese don't want it.
I would love to see a return to glass containers, they last for years, and can be cleaned - not handy, but then once we've trashed our planet, it will be very hard to clean it up.
Plastic bags and other items somehow end up in the ocean, the pacific has a large area (square miles) sea of plastic garbage - but the petroleum and chemical companies lobby so heavily that it may take decades to reduce plastic - unless the voters force it.
Recycling has slowed to a crawl - seems our plastic is usually so "dirty / contaminated" that even the Chinese don't want it.
I would love to see a return to glass containers, they last for years, and can be cleaned - not handy, but then once we've trashed our planet, it will be very hard to clean it up.
Oct 23, 2018 10:20:56 #
Already done in California - we pay 10 cents a bag - as always CA is more expensive than anywhere else.
Oct 23, 2018 12:10:27 #
peterg
Loc: Santa Rosa, CA
Where I live, shoppers pay for bags. I keep a few foldable nylon shopping bags in my car glove compartment. Cheap, handy, stow in my pocket, washable, etc. No big deal. I got mine from Ikea. Google for same.
Oct 23, 2018 12:45:17 #
Plastic bags are actually more recyclable than paper. The plastic is 100% reusable without new raw material in the mix; not true for paper. A company out here wanted to build a plant to recycle plastic, but the politicians won't let them because they are ideologically opposed. Safeway stores have a bin by the doors for used plastic bags that their trucks take to areas that allow this recycling.
Oct 23, 2018 12:50:30 #
RolandDieter wrote:
Plastic bags are actually more recyclable than paper. The plastic is 100% reusable without new raw material in the mix; not true for paper. A company out here wanted to build a plant to recycle plastic, but the politicians won't let them because they are ideologically opposed. Safeway stores have a bin by the doors for used plastic bags that their trucks take to areas that allow this recycling.
Our local Kroger store does as well. That said, I have noticed that plastic bags that I have reused in our attic disintegrate after a period of time
Oct 23, 2018 12:59:04 #
ronsipus wrote:
Already done in California - we pay 10 cents a bag - as always CA is more expensive than anywhere else.
Isn’t that great? We also have the best economy....
Oct 23, 2018 13:44:33 #
Screamin Scott wrote:
Our local Kroger store does as well. That said, I have noticed that plastic bags that I have reused in our attic disintegrate after a period of time
The local Shoprite store here also has a container right at the entrance door for the plastic bags to be returned and dropped off. It seems to be well used, as it is always jam packed full and overflowing when I go there, which is a good thing because that means people are recycling their plastic bags.
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