Bob

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lano...-approved.html


Nice idea banning plastic bags, not sure about the 10c per paper bag will achieve though.

People will now just be buying plastic bags for their rubbish bins instead, so there'll still be plenty of plastic bags, this time without grocery store logos on them, so rather daft.

So anything like this happening in your neck of the woods? Have any fun "forever" bags?

I always liked the Wholefoods ones, but they went missing. Wegmans were rather dull and my mother knicked one of ours. Though she did leave a couple of Sainsburys Olypmic bags and Tesco bags when she brought stuff over for the kids which are kind of fun.

N1cky

I went to a Target in the Bay Area just after Christmas and they informed me they were charging 10c per bag. None of the other local Targets were though.

I went back to the same store recently and the charge appears to have been lifted.

I'm sure I read a few weeks ago that San Francisco supermarkets had imposed the rule, but maybe wrong.

Jerseygirl

I always use my carrier bags as bin bags.

I remember years ago when you were charged for carrier bags in the UK. My mum used to ask the shop assistant to turn them inside out. She said she wasn't paying to advertise the shop.

Celebs get right up my nose...they bleat on and on about saving the world etc and fly around in private jets etc etc.

Also they are now saying that the 'forever' bags are unsanitary as you should keep meat away from fruit and veg etc. The inside of the bags are full of bacteria and should washed regularly. You can't win.

Sally Redux

Yes they're banned in Calabasas. I think it's a great idea.

I like the Trader Joe's bags.

Jerseygirl

I usually try to re-use all my plastic bags. When shopping at my local supermarket...I ask for paper bags...then I put my recycling in them.

Pombat

The City of San Jose has banned plastic bags but none of the surrounding cities have (yet). So if you go down the road from San Jose and into Cupertino or Saratoga or Campbell, you can have as many plastic bags as you like!

lansbury

Bugger that will just fire up the Milwaukie ban the bag crowd again, and I'll get endless emails from people opposing telling me what other uses the bags cover.

N1cky

It wasn't in San Jose though.

I try to always use my own bags. My favorite is a lovely big Marc Jacobs bag, sadly the bag has lasted longer than the shoes did

Orangepants

I have used reusable bags for the last 6/7 years at least and I love my 2 TJ bags. Have about 10 different types in the car. I always get asked about the Home Dept one which stretches across the cart and holds loads and I have a couple of insulated ones from Tescos. I buy biodegradable trash bags made of cornstarch which decompose in the environment.

Charging for bags really worked in M&S in the UK altho I think they are free again now. My Mum is scared of the "Recyling Police" in the UK - apparently they spot-check your roadside deposits!!

Captain Cheesestick

The thing about banning them in the UK was it clearly had nothing at all to do with the environment. It was so transparently a cash-cow for the grocery stores to suddenly start charging money for something they'd been giving away for years. Add everyone would end up buying a Bag For Life every other week because it would be forgotten next time you went shopping - and no one would endure the absolute shame and hatred of other shoppers at using plastic bags. You could easily tell the stores saw it that way too as Tesco and Sainsbury's still sold all their fruit and meat hermetically sealed in an acreage of plastic and seemed to have no intention of changing any of that. When I moved a few years back my local Tesco still sold all it's fresh muffins in a plastic wrapper.

Personally I just see it as a massive waste of plastic so am all for phasing it out. I can't see it going over well here in conservative central NY mind you.

hobbes79

Karl Pilkington did a podcast that involved plastic bags a while back. Said he was in a shop where the cashier said they don't have plastic bags free because they can drown turtles when thrown away, but that he could have one for 5p.

He asked "so it's ok to drown a turtle for 5p?"

Lorna at Vicenza

What about reycling over there? How does that work?
My town hall and plenty of others became totally recyling about 5 years ago.
The dumpsters got removed and we all got told (even ordered) to reycle organic, glass, plastic and tins and paper/cardboard.

The town hall now makes a door to door collection twice a week for the organic food waste and the "dry" stuff which means non recyclable and headed for the incinerator. All glass, paper, tins etc. and extra extra waste we have to take ourselves to the "ecological centre" to depsoit in the correct bins.

The bin bags for the "organic" waste have to be special biodegradable ones and are not exactly cheap. The good thing is that all supermarkets have started using biodegradable bags as their shopping bags. They charge upto 10 cents a bag but it's just that bit cheaper than buying them anyway.

Sally Redux

I suppose the idea is to get people to stop and think.

Many stores here are just ridiculous with how many bags they give you.

GeoffM

+1 (or should that be +many?). I even took a cotton bag into Walmart and they simply put the stuff into numerous plastic bags and then the plastic bags into the reusable bag! Probably understandable for Walmart I guess. Double lined bags for a single packet of raw meat and nothing else seems common too, as if a double lined bag is going to stop blood dripping. I've got a drawer overflowing with the bloody things and I can't get through them fast enough for lining bins etc.

Stater Bros (supermarket) ask whether you want paper or plastic. I say paper and they give me plastic anyway . Autopilot maybe.

Most supermarkets have recycling bins for the bags though. But the kerbside recycling doesn't take bags.

By the time I left the UK plastic bags were back in force without even needing to ask for them.

N1cky

At least they pack your raw meat seperate where you are, they just randomly stick it in with anything here. Cooked ham, cheese, veg...

I hate the way some stores totally ignore you when you say you don't need a bag, and use one anyway. Then give you a dirty look when you take the item back out of the bag and leave it on the checkout.