Plastic Bags to Be Banned in New York; Second Statewide Ban, After California

BYOB.

Is NY going to provide free bags?

Buy a reusable one made of textile like a normal responsible person.

Or recycled plastic. You'll get used to it.

Do you have to carry them with you all the time?

Isn't it a hardship for lower-income people to have to buy multiple bags just so they can go food shopping?

"single-use" bags. What about those thick plastic bags? Those can be used plenty of times...

They're looking to ban paper bags too. Now I'll have to buy thick plastic bags for my garbage.

What will the homeless shit in now?

Those plastic bags were shoved down peoples' throats in the first place by good concerned progressives who wanted to save the trees.

I've had clerks at Met's, Food Emporium, Associated and other stores basically put two or three items in one (doubled) bag and then start another. I just take them out of the bag and combine them and say I'm trying to avoid having excess trash. They are far too generous and obviously not properly trained in bagging. I use the white bags now to wrap my lunch in and the black bags from other stores for my trash, but I have tupperwear I can use for my sandwiches and other ways of collecting my garbage to toss out on a daily basis. Not the end of the world for this New York City Boy.

R11 What are you going to use to throw out your trash once the plastic bags are banned?

I love those plastic bags! I reuse them all the time! I use them as trash bags, I never buy trash bags.

There are some exceptions : Stores can still hand out bags to carry bulk items, sliced or prepared foods, a newspaper for delivery, prescription drugs and uncooked meat, fish or poultry. Bags sold in bulk, food storage bags, trash bags, garment bags, prepackaged bags offered for sale and bags for carryout orders at restaurants are also not covered by the ban.

if you order take out, they can still use plastic bags!

So people will still be using plastic bags to throw out their garbage. Only now they will have to buy them and the bags will likely be larger than they need especially if they are single.

WTF are they gonna use at home depot? hammers are gonna fall through paper bags. this is so dumb. I don't care. the planet is dying anyways...nothing we do will stop it.

How about putting food back in boxes? My local supermarket sells cakes, cupcakes, eggs in plastic. The eggs are sitt8 g in plastic, then there’s a full length plastic lid of to cover the eggs, and another plastic lid. Wtf? Put them in cardboard again.

Tree farms are recyclable. You plant more trees. Triple plastic egg containers are just garbage.

This makes me so very sad. I use these bags for trash bags as I cannot use a large trash bag in my apartment. What I love, love, love to do the most is to use them to clean my cats litter box!! After I’ve deposited the kitty waste into the bag, I simply tie it shut, walk over to the window, light the bag on fire and throw it out the window of my 5th floor apartment. There is absolutely nothing funnier than watching that plastic bag melt around cat shit as it flies out the window and onto the sidewalk. The plastic is so nice because it keeps burning even while falling. It’s so much fun to watch people scream in horror as cat shit burns on the sidewalk! For those of you who don’t live in an apartment building, you can also throw it out of a moving car!

[quote]and other ways of collecting my garbage to toss out on a daily basis.

R11 uses a canvas bag to cart his trash to work or he leaves it on his neighbor's doorstep.

No, dummy R16. The planet will be just fine, once it shrugs off humankind like a horse shrugs off flies. It's us who are dying.

This is great news! Those plastic bags clog up sewers, get caught in trees, and don’t degrade for hundreds of years.

Just buy reusable shopping bags like the rest of the world

To throw out garbage, R21?

[quote] This makes me so very sad. I use these bags for trash bags as I cannot use a large trash bag in my apartment.

Trash bags come in all different sizes.

For your cat litter, but a Catgenie. It holds a week’s worth of cat poo

It’s not that big a deal. You get used to it.

In Manhattan: Since I shop daily and I carry a handbag, it’s easy to have a string bag with me. I’ve already converted. I’m accustomed to schlepping, but it might be more difficult for men who don’t normally carry anything.

What about the people wearing plastic bags directing traffic?

It's great news. These things are absolutely terrible for the environment.

Most plastic bags are generally banned in the EU. Why can't New York and the rest of the US follow suit?

This has been the case for many US cities that I've lived in for years. You can still buy bags if you need them - but they are much better, sturdier paper bags.

The plastic bags were an upgrade from the brown paper bags with no handles that made carrying groceries a real challenge. However, it got out of hand quickly and they started putting 1 or 2 items per plastic bag. It was ridiculous.

I'm all for sturdy paper bags - you can fit a lot of food into one single bag. But bags need handles. That was the issue in the first place.

R24 do you use those string bags to dispose your trash? Or do you just buy plastic bags for that?

If you really need those plastic bags, there are 48 other states that can send you their's.

R26 people will still be using plastic bags. They just have to buy them now instead of getting them for free. They need bags to throw out their trash. How hard is this to understand?

Why do you need a bag for a hammer?

Just carry it.

So what you're saying then, r30, is that to throw out their trash, NYers will be swapping thinner plastic bags from stores for thicker plastic bags that you buy so that there will be no net reduction in plastic bags only now they will be thicker.

Yup, R32.

My grocery store has been overloading plastic bags for years, putting 10 heavy cans in one thin bag for example, and the bag rips to shreds before you can get it home. Plus their recycling bin for bags is always overflowing and I suspect they throw them away anyhow.

They crab at me if I ask for paper (easier to recycle) and when I bring reusable bags they flip out like they've never seen one. I bought it AT YOUR STORE, Teenaged Gomer. Stop hyperventilating and put my damn salad in it.

A plastic bag ban in my town would cause an apocalypse.

Even if you reuse some of them you accumulate so many more than can be reused.

Missouri has made it illegal for municipalities to ban these bags.

Of course they have.

With PREP there's no need for condoms anymore either. Ban them too, they just go in a landfill.

LOL @ R18!

This is needed, and I'm glad they're doing it, but as a NYC resident, this is also going to take some major re-thinking for us folks. And when the following says "we", it refers to 90% of us who are actually living here.

1. We don't have cars. Everyone who suggests we just take our big cloth bags to the store don't seem to realize that we're not pulling up to the grocery store in a car for a big shopping haul of a week's worth of food. We shop as we go and as we're out and about, and often on the spur of a moment. Since most men don't carry purses or bags all the time, it's not realistic to think that there will be a nice, tidy, folded bag on the ready. Not gonna happen. Yes, I can put one in my gym bag, but when I go to the store after the gym, I already just stick the stuff in the gym bag.

2. We use those plastic bags! They're not one-and-done for us. We store them and re-use them for trash, or for carrying things around, or for lining small trash cans in our apartments.

3. In my building, we use the small plastic bags and put them in the large containers on the street, where our super collects them on trash days. Without those, people are either: A. Going to by the thicker, bigger plastic bags that you get at the grocery store OR B. Just throw the waste in these outside bins.

And what's gonna happen when option B, the cheaper option, is invariably chosen? RATS. Lots and lots of rats.

Like I said, I support this decision, but I don't know how this is going to play out. Not gonna be fun, practical or easy for city residents. I can smell the crankiness coming...

Can you still go to a restaurant supply and pick up a case of these if this really is your optimal trash can liner?

How did anyone ever survive without plastic bags!!

Just reusing them for trash doesn’t solve the problem

Honestly, I love reusable bags because you can carry way more in each and they don't rip.

R41, can you explain what the difference is swapping one plastic bag for another?

R44, the *reusable* part. That's the whole point. Reusing a durable, plastic bag so you're not getting a new, thin, plastic bag every time you shop.

The current generation are so wee-wee-wee and stupid!

Out grandparents and great-grandparents lived through world wars and fed themselves without using stupid petroleum-based plastic to kill our oceans!!!!

It's not about swapping but that the number that get reused is a small fraction of the number that are used one time.

It's hard to remember to bring them with. If you buy a lot of item, lugging multiples bags will be a hassle. I will say, the supermarket baggers use waaay to many bags. They literally put 2 items in each bag. They are flimsy though, but a heavier plastic that could hold more would be better.

R40 you took the words right out of my mouth. I don’t carry a purse or bag so I don’t have anywhere to carry a bag.

I live in an elavator building but when I get off the subway I’m not going upstairs first to get a bag and come back down. Anyone in New York knows this. I’m going into the store, get my shit then up to my apartment.

Most people don't reuse the bags they get from stores. They buy bigger ones. So banning stores from giving these out for free would be best.

R49 You could take a bit more effort with "your shit".

Because our environment has to cope with "your shit".

R45, I don't reuse my trash bags. So, I ask again, what is the difference in swapping one plastic bag for another?

No most of them are not.

Yeah, they are.

R52, it's to cut down on manufacturing NEW plastic bags. We're always going to have plastic as part of our lives (at least for the foreseeable future), but if we can cut down on certain places where they're used, it's a start.

I reuse them and end up taking ten times as many to the recycling center.

A bunch of plastic bags being reused as one:

So when the garage dumps are now filling with thick plastic bags, then what?

R45/R55 people stock the bags they get from the stores and then use the bags to throw out garbage. Because of the ban, people will eventually use up all the bags they have saved.

Then they will have to go out and buy NEW PLASTIC BAGS to throw out their garbage. In the long run, the problem will be the same.

R59, by the time we get to the point of running out, I'm sure other solutions will be there.

R51 why don’t you lick my butthole. I reuse my plastic bags so essentially I don’t have to buy other plastic bags. Plus I throw my cat box waste out in those bags. I also light them on fire so that the plastic melts and just the cat shit is burning.

I'm sure that's a habit we want repeated by a billion people.

In a few days, r60? Unless you think we're all hoarding store bags.

You reuse the plastic bags once.

No. Many people are just throwing their excess ones away.

Are they going to do away with those plastic bags they use in dry cleaners. The ones they tell children not to put over their heads because they'll suffocate?

No, r66. But they are looking to ban the paper bags as well.

Those are a necessary population quantity and quality control.

R65 well then those people need to be shot. The Chinese have been dumping our trash in the ocean. All of this is their fault. If these damn Chinese had not been putting trash in the ocean we wouldn’t have these over dramatic pictures for everyone to go crazy over.

A bit slow

Have you ever wondered?

The vast majority of the plastic garbage that is killing precious little ocean citizens comes from the other side of the globe, as the above photo illustrates.

You can buy small-sized plastic garbage bags for your trash. No one is saying to go from using a grocery store plastic bag to a 30 gallon triple-thick Hefty bag for your daily garbage. I'm in California; not having these thin plastic bags is not a hardship.

Other options: - Reuse your take-out bags. - Buy rolls of dog poop bags to use for trash. They're cheap and tiny. - Rethink throwing away so much shit.

[quote]A bit slow

Translation: We prefer Hefty of Glad.

I'm old enough to remember when the tree huggers were forcing, and I mean *FORCING* plastic bags on the general public because we were killing the trees with our paper bags.

I remember thinking, "You can't make textbook covers with plastic bags."

R73, you're still advocating replacing plastic bags with plastic bags. That's the insanity of this.

Agree, R76, and as pointed out by another poster the same type of thinking that led us to use plastic bags in place of "tree-killing" paper bags in the first place.

R75 You're old enough to remember the bad times.

But we're now living in the WORSE times.

Great news.

R76, every time most people go grocery shopping, they end up with 3, 4, 5, sometimes 10 of these grocery store bags. Every shopping trip. There's no way that every one of those bags is reused for trash. Most end up in the trash themselves after being used for mere minutes. I personally am not advocating buying plastic trash bags; I use fabric bags for everything from groceries to Walgreens to Home Depot. I'm just offering an option to people who are whining about this change. Plus, if people had to buy small bags rather than relying on grocery store bags, they'll ultimately use fewer and/or find an alternative. That's the real goal.

As someone upthread said, you'll get used to it. It's been a few years now, and I don't even think about plastic bags anymore.

Is it possible that we needed a few decades of reduced paper consumption to get tree farms up and running. That now with those tree farms and more efficient recycling paper is a better option today than it was three decades ago. Maybe it's not all just a hoax as the cynics want us to believe.

Why they don't just ban the manufacture of plastic bags beats me.

R80 what is the "alternative" to throwing out garbage in plastic bags?

IT IS a hoax, R82. If it wasn't, they would just do what R83 suggests. That would be the logical solution.

Instead, gas-guzzling SUV drivers living in McMansions push this "solution" which doesn't impact them at all. Just people who already have a much smaller environmental footprint.

R73 - I certainly do save all those store bags and use them for trash. I’m single & live alone so I don’t buy that much food - store the bags scrunched up in a box in a kitchen cabinet & hang the current garbage bag on a doorknob - if I’m not throwing out food, just general garbage, the door bag usually lasts 2 - 3 days before it is full. I also think most manhattanites will find it very inconvenient to always have a big reusable bag on their person and will gladly pay a nickel for a plastic one when they shop. The charge for the grocery bag was part of the last proposal a few years back - don’t know if it will be part of the new law.

Exactly R85 - I walk to work, rarely am even in a car and live in a building that is over 100 years old - I already have a pretty “green” life for an American - this will just be a big incinvience to people like us.

R86 don't they charge a nickel right now? That IS the recent law, right?

This newer law won't allow you buy plastic bags because they will be banned completely. You will have no choice but to buy a canvas bag from the store or bring your own with you.

Here is my solution. I’m a New Yorker and I have one of these with me, always. It’s usually carrying my water bottle (HydroFlask) and then I throw whatever I need into it. People stop and ask me all day long where I got it (online). They hold a TON of groceries and cashiers are always dubious, but they always fit my shopping (I shop daily).

Muji used to sell them, but they don’t anymore. Some health food stores and Gracious Home used to sell them. They’re washable and hold up pretty well.

R89 That must go very well with your caftan and earrings.

My gristeedes never charges a nickel. No store I’ve beem in in the last few years has ever charged for a bag

As others mentioned above I reuse the plastic bags as garbage bags. I also have cloth bag but I tend to forget to bring it with me.

R89 = sensible. R90 = bitch.

Well, I'm glad some folks are self-proclaimed responsible plastic bag users. However, looks like you'll need to use up your stockpile and hopefully you'll survive the terrible burden. Isn't NYC the take-out food capital of the universe, incidentally? You will still have plenty of plastic bags in your lives, I'm sure.

Stores in CA have paper bags available for 5 or 10 cents if you need them. Then you can use these for trash, or just keep using them for groceries. Most folks here bring their own or don't use a bag at all. It's really not hard.

Again, help the environment and spend a $1 for a reusable bag.

By the way, where I live now in CA, it's nice not seeing plastic bags blowing around grocery store parking lots and on the side of the road/highways like I saw when I lived on the east coast.

You can buy small trash bags for Christ’s sake.

I like Trader Joe cooler bags and reusable bags the best.

R80 I have more plastic bags from places that will be allowed to keep using plastic bags (like CVS) than I have grocery bags, which I (and many) actually do reuse. If concern is some people have to many then make them recyclable like bottles. But I absolutely don't see the logic in banning plastic bags that are made from recycled plastic (it's why they're so thin) in favor of a much thicker bag. All you're doing is swapping one bag for a much worse bag.

R73 is an idiot. Why would I buy more plastic bags when I have them fro the fucking store?

And before anyone suggests using a CVS bag for my garbage...they are either way too small or they're giant bags with attached, plastic loop handles, which don't work well for garbage.

R89 I wouldn’t be caught dead carrying that around and are you really that fucking dehydrated you need a hydro flask? That’s another thing I don’t understand. If you are that thirsty you run into the deli, buy a plastic bottle of water, drink it down then throw the plastic bottle in the gutter.

R89 is a caftan wearing idiot. I can’t imagine walking around Manhattan with one of those bags. If I had that many groceries to carry in the first place, I’d call the fucking store and have them delivered. What an idiot.

You doing a lot of deploring there, R99.

R97, what part of this story are you not following? YOU WON'T HAVE THEM FROM THE FUCKING STORE if you depend on the grocery store bags for trash, etc. The suggestion to buy small bags was merely to placate the belly-achers in this thread who are heartbroken that their bags are being taken away. PLEASE DON'T BUY THEM, IN FACT.

R101 I’m not going to buy them.

R89 are you a native NYer?

R103 who gives a shit where R89 came from!!! That bag is stupid and so are you. And so is R89.

Most of those reusable bags are polypropylene, which I'm quite sure are lethal to the environment in manufacturing as well as when they quickly make their way to the dump. And the plastic bags that they're now banning only came into play because we were told how awful we were for using paper bags, which were the standard for grocery shopping. So now what, just juggle our groceries all the way home? Hang us for needing groceries?

for those who use the fabric bags, you gotta wash them often. Germs and shit...

I am already very eco friendly! All my clothes are handwashed!

This is just another way to tax us! They want that fucking 5 cents. Where the fuck is it going? Like that fucking useless program of Mrs. Mayor? only helped 850 people after spending 250million.

Now they gonna have congestion pricing...and watch all your fucking bills go up. if you have cable, you have "other fees"...it's total BS.

Oh the drama!

Yeah. Seriously planning a future move out of NY. Can't do it right now, but I will eventually. It's become impossible.

YOU WILL ONLY RIP MY BELOVED PLASTIC BAGS (that are killing the oceans) FROM MY COLD DEAD HANDS!

R109 everyone uses plastic bags to throw out garbage. Now, people who used small, thin plastic bags will buy ones that are much bigger and thicker than they need. LOL!

I just emptied the whole cat litter box out the window. Fuck the plastic bags.

Or you could just buy a case of the exact ones you are using if change is just too traumatic for those on the autistic spectrum.

Single people who walk/take public transit and live in apartment buildings don't put out big bags of garbage at the curb like "pro-environment" SUV driving, water guzzling, McMansion owners.

Large plastic bags of garbage don't fit down apartment building garbage chutes.

I WILL MOVE OUT OF NYC IF THEY MAKE ME SPEND 5¢ FOR A PAPER BAG!

I REFUSE TO BUY A 99¢ REUSABLE BAG, I MIGHT HAVE TO WIPE IT!

I’M NOT WIPING ANYTHING!

OMFG!

The "reusable" bags will also get thrown out.

[quote] Large plastic bags of garbage don't fit down apartment building garbage chutes

Plastic bags given out by stores = 3 gallons

Oh looks!

3 gallon trash bags with handles for your garbage!

R114? I don’t mind paying for the paper bags. I mean you can only carry one. I don’t buy that much stuff. I can’t use large bags in my apartment because being single the smell would be too bad when a large bag filled up. I also have my gal reuse them as trash can liners for the bathroom and bedroom. I can’t expect a little cleaning lady to haul a full garbage bag to the trash chute either.

They might as well try this because those dumb, brown compost containers aren't working. I barely see anyone putting them out with the regular garbage

R117 — see R116

Reusable bags spread germs and salmonella . They are not safe once you start putting meat in them.

Democrats are running themselves straight out of office. Mark my words.

I live in Boston.

We really only have 3 markets. All bag in plastic. And Whole Foods doesn't count. I know "whole pay check" is an annoying joke but it's true. I'm not that rich.

I was driving recently to Chatham on the Cape and was really saddened by all these awful plastic bags stuck to the trees. They were everywhere. Really awful.

Get rid of them. Paper rots, this crap is forever.

But we were the villains for cutting down trees for paper bags, that's why plastic bags became a thing.

R116 my apartment would smell if I waited to get that size trash bag full.

R122 and now we see single-use plastic bags are ruining the environment.

We are always learning

[quote] Democrats are running themselves straight out of office. Mark my words.

Most people, conservative or liberal, understand that single use plastic bags everywhere can’t be a good thing.

What’s wrong with reusing bags and cleaning them in between uses?

[quote] my apartment would smell if I waited to get that size trash bag full.

Did the world’s apartments smell before the invention of small plastic bags?

We have sacrificed the quality of our lives in exchange for convenience, we are drowning in our own filth and it's gotta stop.

[QUOTE]Did the world’s apartments smell before the invention of small plastic bags?

No because we were still tossing our trash out the window back then.

[quote]Or you could just buy a case of the exact ones you are using if change is just too traumatic for those on the autistic spectrum.

It’s not about “change.” First of all, what you’re suggesting is buying and using plastic bags so you don’t get plastic bags from the grocery store. Net loss of plastic bags = zero.

Except that now, when I go to the store after work (and, unlike California, not by car) and get my groceries I have no way of carrying them to my apartment. Mainly because I’m not walking around and going on the subway with the empty bags I bought above. And I’ll be damned if I’d carry Ms. Thirsty R89’s fucking ballbag everywhere.

[quote]Did the world’s apartments smell before the invention of small plastic bags?

We wouldn’t know, we were more concerned with the smell of horseshit wafting up from the street.

They tried something like this in Dallas a few years ago, where they "encouraged" paper bags, by charging for the plastic. Everyone made such a stink they reversed it. When I was living in NYC, I always reused my plastic ShopRite bags for picking up my dogs poop, or just reusing them as garbage bags to toss out whatever waste was made from making the days meals. I still reuse grocery bags as dog poop bags.

[quote]Democrats are running themselves straight out of office. Mark my words.

Sweetheart, Reps can't actually win most places without gerrymandering and the electoral college and screaming about illegal immigrants voting

The UK made plastic carrier bags chargeable in stores a few years back and it's made a huge difference. It's amazing how quickly people get used to the idea of bringing a reusable bag to the shops with them. It's not difficult to carry a folded up carrier bag in the pocket of your work bag/gym bag/manbag/whatever.

I still try to throw as much trash as possible out the window. There really is nothing better than throwing a nice bag of trash out the window and watching the people on the sidewalk react to it. I also enjoy taking a box of tampons and dipping them in red food coloring. Throwing these out the window and watching the reaction of the people on the street on a nice summer day is a gift.

Forgot to add picture.

[quote]It's not difficult to carry a folded up carrier bag in the pocket of your work bag/gym bag/manbag/whatever.

Who the fuck carries these things?

Will this ban include the plastic bags at Broadway theaters which house souvenirs that women put on their laps and constantly crinkle during the performances?

They have been banned in paris for a few years now.

Cripes, what a bunch of whingers. DEAL with it.

[quote]They have been banned in paris for a few years now.

Paris has bigger problems than plastic bags.

Americans are simply anti-government control. It's in their DNA. They believe government should be there to keep the lights on. This will backfire.

The ban passed yesterday and will go into effect in 2020.

I am in NY and have been using my own reusable bags for a decade. It's really not a big deal, and if you don't have a bag on you, you will be able to pay for one.

It's a fucking pain in the ass and it won't come close to solving the problem.

Just another money grab. Didn't the justs shorten the time / increase the cost on parking meters? The same assholes who told us we were evil for using paper bags forced us to use plastic bags. Now we're evil for using plastic bags. How do they want me to get my groceries home, the groceries which by the way are also taxed?

Whatever. I remember when I thought it was weird switching to plastic from paper. I still remember the smell of the paper bags carrying the groceries out of the car as a kid.

Paper is fine, but they need handles in the city (which thankfully some marvel invented). Who cares if the plastic is banned as long as you can get paper. In Chicago you have to pay a bag tax for plastic OR paper, which is just stupid.

So many angry, selfish people in New York who are unable to plan ahead.

Good, now people like those who may not be named can't ask for 12 plastic bags for 6 grocery items because "I can use them as trash bags."

Well, one person anyway.

I have a question...

What about those plastic bags we use to bag the fruits and veggies that we buy by the pound? Are those gonna be banned as well?

They are starting to sell mesh bags for that purpose. I'm thinking of getting some. I'm not a greenie but all that plastic does make me uncomfortable.

What am I supposed to do with my cat shit? What am I supposed to use to line my bathroom garbage cans?

If you wondered why NYC or the US in general can't arse themselves to ban these shitty bags, just read this thread. People are stupid and lazy and panicky. It's totally possible to live a life without there being unlimited amounts of plastic bags available, for free, everywhere. I grew up without ANY plastic bags and didn't die! The garbage got a little gross once a week so...you clean it! You don't have to buy a month's supply of stuff when you go to the store. You can get just a week's! It's really not that hard and the idiots on the DL are prime examples of why civilization is going to collapse. People are too fucking stupid to live.

I’ve been using reusable bags in the city for years now. It’s not a big deal. There are little fabric or string ones that fit in a pocket or purse or messenger bag, or whatever you carry. I always have one with me. If you don’t carry anything, I don’t know what to tell you.

In East Hampton, they give you old-school paper bags or you can buy reusable ones for 99 cents. Everyone SURVIVED. You just keep a bunch in the car and you learn to bring them into the store. They also banned plastic straws and everyone survived that, too. I’ve got a silicone straw and a little carrying case.

I’ve been using these for years.

Seattle banned plastic bags as of July 1, 2012. A statewide ban (accd'g to AP) is going into effect this year.

[quote]Buy a reusable one made of textile like a normal responsible person

They did a study on this and found those are chocked full of bacteria. They need to be washed after each use in bleach.

r154

And using your car, which you carry your reusables in, does more environmental damage than the non-usabes used by people who don't drive

R153, calm down, you're ranting.

Those are hideous, R154. I don't live in Haiti. I'm not walking around with one of those.

And we're gonna have to walk around with 12-pack toilet paper in our arms? That's fucking undignified. Otherwise, you need to carry around a huge fucking textile bag.

Not to mention, as has already been said, plastic bags are perfect trash bags.

Not the end of the world, but it still sucks.

Yet, Chris is the Cuomo brother dubbed "Fredo."

Also philadelphia

R156 And you think what, that stores are storing their plastic bags in a completely hygienic way?

How do you think those bags got bacteria on them in the first place? From the products put in them. If you're really that concerned you should be washing absolutely everything you buy.

This is some bullshit.

Didn’t they already invent bags that are “100% compostable”? They look like thin plastic, but they’re not. I think they’re made from corn/potato starch or smthg. Whole Foods sells them, they’re pretty sturdy.

Why can’t stores just hand out THOSE compostable ones instead of the plastic ones? Oh, right, because then how will they CHARGE customers en masse for the plastic ones. It’s all a scam.

It's a regressive tax that hits poor people the hardest. Trader Joe's has posted a note that their paper bags will be 5 cents each....since most need a doublebag to carry anything that weighs more than a pound, they will be charged 10 cents.

I understand the need to cut down on plastic bags, but the fact that the restaurants' lobbyists got them off really irritates me. People who order in can afford to pay for a bag, much more than poor people can for their groceries.

R89 and R154 - grannies in poor regions in Europe, especially Eastern Europe, used to own those string-net bags in the 50s-70s and before that. When ‘fancy’ plastic bags were introduced - youngsters started laughing & mocking the poor grannies for being “too provincial, peasant-y and non-modern”. But I guess those grannies were right all along. We’ve come full circle. The grannies have been vindicated. Guess who’s laughing now!

Die, Granny Edna.

R2 and R5 = Dumb and Dumber.

It would be the height of meta-retro to learn how to macrame plastic grocery bags into reusable bags, the way my mom did with bread bags back in the '70s.

Paper bags can be recycled, but all the chemicals and tons of water needed to make the paper bags is not good either. You are just swapping one thing for another, but then you feel better about it. What about the places that make the paper bags, do they want all that shit in their communities? You are just moving the problem out of YOUR sight and somewhere else. I know what to do, let's import a bunch of Filipinos to carry all our groceries for us! You could do like Uber, just order a Filipino on the app, problem solved!

Great, now folks will be schlepping a fucking dripping chicken all the place. Why don't we all just raise and slaughter our own meat in our houses and us the shit for the houseplants.

[quote] Is NY going to provide free bags?

Nope. They charge 5¢ for a paper bag. I’ve lived in a town that banned plastic bags a while ago. I use my Trader Joe’s 99¢ reusable bags. They’re far superior to supermarket reusable bags.

Dumbass contrarians. You can buy 99¢ reusable bags everywhere. If they get dirty, wipe them with a cloth & spray them with Lysol, you feebs.

I carry my own fabric bags to the grocery store, but I nearly have to battle to bag my own groceries. The baggers are strangely insistent in double-bagging ever single item with single-use plastic bags before putting them in my cloth bags. Some of the nearby parks have holders along the trails where you can deposit your plastic bags, so that dog walkers can use them to pick up after their dogs.

I've seen straight guys use baby-strollers and just shove all the purchased crap in there (along with the kid!). Apparently strollers (especially some big-ass ones) have a lot of pockets, compartments and storage sections - so very handy.

It might be bordering on child abuse, but I find it hilarious!

R158 - how much do you shit that you need that much toilet paper? A regular 4-pack last me a while. Maybe look at your diet and what you drink.

R175, some people have families.

[quote] Also philadelphia

Don’t forget the outrageous sugary drinks tax which taxes diet drinks and juice. The money went missing already. Government officials have no clue where it went. It was supposed to pay for pre-K. All these taxes are scams and Democrats are going to pay the price for implementing them.

I've lived in other countries where I had to bring my own bags and you get used to it pretty quick. I have a bunch of these $1.99 Ikea bags that fold up flat into themselves and you can stash in your back pocket.

However - I re-use plastic grocery bags to scoop my kitty litter into, so I would have to buy bags to replace those.

It's all about the kitties!

Living in London, carrying your own bag for groceries and such isn't a big deal especially since you get charged 5p if you need to use one from the shop BUT there has been problems with the plan as well.

Thanks, R178- I hate the ones I currently have. I live in rural Oregon, and this just started New Years Day. The Trumpers are NOT happy @Safeway.

Sorry, R177, but the "sugary drinks tax" went nowhere. And, judging by the Democratic landslide of 2018, the voters are rewarding them. So fuck the fuck off.

R169 just reminded me of hilariousness from my past. Wilbur was a Filipino who sat next to me in a college class. He was FOB. He had a crush on me. One day after class, he asked, "Can I carry your books to your next class?" I sorta looked around a sec, and said, "Um yeah sure." Twice a week for the rest of the semester, Wilbur carried my books to my next class. My friends would stop to talk and say, "Why is he carrying your books? Did you hurt yourself?" and I would reply "He wants to."

I tried to fuck Wilbur as he wanted, but he had poor hygiene and was an overall bad lay. And he wouldn't eat anything except fried meat and rice. That relationship went nowhere. Except the book carrying. And I was taking 18 credit hours that semester.

But I don’t want to have a BAG! I can’t carry a bag! What do you think I am, a “bag person“? You think I can remember to bring a bag with me? How can I possibly do this? How is it possible for me to remember to bring something with me to the supermarket? What do you think I am, a ROBOT who can be programmed to remember things?

I never heard of such a thing in my life. You expect 99% of Americans to keep bags in their cars? That’s impossible. And what about people in cities? If they walk to the supermarket, how can you expect them to carry a bag in their hands? Omg, do you know what I will look like walking down the street with a couple of folded up shopping bags in my hand? I’ll be laughed at in the streets by toughs with names like Corn Pop & Coco Puff. They’ll attack me and call me Bag Brah. “Hey, you got bags, brah? Huh? Got yo BAGS today? Where is dey at?” they’ll scoff, in their tough street lingo.

I am freaking the fuck out. This is something I cannot bring myself to do. This is so.....metrosexual. You can’t force big, adult men to bring folded up bags with them to the market. This is America, this isn’t Europe. A man has to protect his cowboy image of not needing anything except his wallet with all his credit cards, his ID, his health insurance card, his keys to his abode. That’s all a real man carries with him.

If I reuse a shopping bag I could get sick! What if there were food particles in their left over from my last shopping trip, and they touched my new particles? What if produce or meat touched the inside of my bag? I’ll die. It’s unsanitary. I could actually die. I’m old you know, very old. Remembering to rinse out a shopping bag isn’t something I can do. Why, my grandparents went to the butcher & got their meat wrapped in brown paper. Why can’t we have that again? Why can’t they wrap everything in heavy brown paper for us and tape it up? I don’t understand. I don’t know what to do. I’m a very anxious person, I get panic attacks when asked to vary my daily routine. I’ll get hysterical and then I won’t be able to breathe. I’ll have to go to the ER. Everybody’s insurance rates are going to go up because I’m going to be hospitalized for forgetting my bags. This is your fault.

Oh Christ, I can’t live in this world anymore. Someone has to give me free little white bags. It’s my birthright. This is not America. This isn’t the america I was born in and loved! This is SJWs restricting my freedom & forcing me to do things I don’t want to do. They are taking away my liberty. They are infringing on my right to free plastic bags. I demand my rights.

There were similar bitchfests when a plastic straw ban was proposed. People with sensory issues might be bothered by stainless steel straws! Use silicone. Sensory issues again! Paper straws get soggy! Carrying around a silicone straw is unhygienic!

What about me?

Are these politicians so stupid that they don't realize we will continue to buy plastic bags from store shelves for garbage and dog shit?

Why don’t you flush your dog shut down the toilet, R187?

R187, I don’t think anyone’s planning on eliminating plastic bags altogether. I think the law is trying to reduce the number of unnecessary plastic bags in landfills.

Currently I buy plastic 13-gallon garbage bags. I’ll continue to do so. And currently I am using up the plastic grocery bags as liners for my recycling bin. When I use them up, I’ll just forgo the bags and rinse out the bin when needed. I always try to repurpose whatever I can - produce bags, food containers, etc. and give them a little more use before I recycle them.

[quote] I don't live in Haiti. I'm not walking around with one of those.

I pissed a little on myself.

[quote] What if there were food particles in their left over from my last shopping trip,

Oh, dear!

R182 WTF are you on about?

I re-use plastic bags all the time. There's a drawer in my kitchen where I keep these on hand at all times.

- When I am unpacking fresh meats, I hate throwing the packaging in my trash can because it stinks it up before the trash is even full. Same goes with stuff like bones, or anything that can't go down my garbage disposal. Same goes with expired foods.

- A couple friends of mine who volunteer at one of our local cat shelters have mentioned to me that they will gladly use them, so I give some to them as well.

- When I'm sending some food home with friends and family. I usually put it on a paper plate, wrap it in foil, then put it in these bags so it doesn't leak on the way home.

[quote] When I'm sending some food home with friends and family.

Hello, r193.

[quote] I think the law is trying to reduce the number of unnecessary plastic bags in landfills.

As long as it's the same as YOUR definition. We all saw what happens when vegans go rogue

Malt shops and pharmacy soda fountains used metal straws all those years ago. Why can’t restaurants use those? Because they’ll get stolen? Tell customers “these are sterilized straws that belong to the restaurant. We need them back, like our cutlery. Then we sterilize them again.”

how do you wash metal straws? you have to buy some gadget?

I'd never drink out of one of those reusable straws

Good!

I live alone and am choking in them.

[quote]forbid stores to provide customers with single-use plastic bags,

In California, the stores no longer "provide" plastic bags. They charge for them.

While I agree that something has to be done, these bans reek of companies trying to turn standard costs of doing business into a source of revenue by creating a problem, then solving it.

It’s really a dilemma. The reusable grocery bags are nice, but they may be filthy depending on the bag owner. Who knows if they’re a dirty person who’s set them down next to a public urinal or in their own bathroom they store it next to the toilet. They could have feces on them. The baggers then put them up on the checkout counter and contamination can occur.

The whole thing is tedious. I hate being in a store where some hippie is trying to fit 50lbs worth of groceries into a single hemp bag. The re-usable bags will eventually end up in landfill. If you think this will end at grocery bags you are wrong, soon you will have to bring your own tray to get a salad. I always manage to forget the bags when I go into a store and then I either have to run back to my car in sub zero temperatures or buy more re-usable bags. Yes I'm a cranky eldergay and I think banning the bags is as bad as banning large size sodas so that people will lose weight.

Germophobes crack me up. Bacteria are EVERYWHERE. A reusable shopping bag isn’t the problem.

[quote]these bans reek of companies trying to turn standard costs of doing business into a source of revenue by creating a problem, then solving it.

The companies want nothing to do with this. They now have to stock up on paper bags which are more expensive. And their standard costs of doing business is factored into everything you buy anyway.

What business sense would it make for a company to piss off their customers to make a few dollars more when they can just charge more for items and most people would be none the wiser?

R188 I'm really curious how you expect that scenario to play out. Should R187 carry his dog's shit inside (in what? his bare hands?) to flush down the toilet? You realize that dogs shit outdoors, don't you?

You guys do realize that civilization thrived for thousands of years without unlimited, free plastic bags available everywhere? You're spoiled idiots.

they make money by selling those eco bags with their names for 2 bucks at the check out

They’re not free, r206.

And civilization did pretty well before the automobile, planes, television, the internet and a litany of other things, too. Including showers. So we should go back to the prehistoric days too or not use the comforts we designed?

What a stupid argument.

Oh? How much did you pay for the thousands of plastic bags you got from the grocery store, r208? Nothing, you dumb fucking liar. And these single-use plastic bags are a fucking blight on the Earth. It's the smallest fucking thing we can do to clean up how badly we're shitting on nature and fucking dumb contrarian assholes like you are too mean-spirited to even think about it. Fuck off.

Ooooh. Someone is triggered.

Um, r209, we’ll never know exactly how much we paid for the bags because that’s factored into the price we pay for the goods we put in the bags.

sorry but plastic is just essential in everyday life.

Sure we should use it less but plastic but plastic is very important! Just think about all the plastic in hospitals and medical setting...saves lives!

Sorry, typo, forgot to proof read in above post.

R192, R169 made a comment about having Filipinos carry our groceries for us. Then I remembered when I was in college and a Filipino carried my books for me for an entire semester. That's what I'm on about.

There's also now a push in state government to ban plastic bags in Georgia. I use my own canvas bags, but I so hope it passes.

R200 very good point.

[quote] how do you wash metal straws? you have to buy some gadget

That gadget is called a dishwasher. It washes metal straws inside & out just like it washes glasses, cutlery, measuring cups, pot and pans. You don’t put your mouth on a straw any more than you put it on a glass or a mug or a fork. The straw is open top to bottom, for water & detergent with hydrogen peroxide to go through. Put it on sanitize.

Really, you trolls don’t think things through very well. Kids have been using reusable crazy straws for years.

[quote] these bans reek of companies trying to turn standard costs of doing business into a source of revenue by creating a problem, then solving it.

You can solve it yourself. Go to Trader Joe’s, buy a few 99¢ bags and use them for the rest of your life. They’re that good. Problem solved.

No Trader Joe’s? Use the Internet.

Afraid of germs? Clean your fucking bags, pigs.

R217 But what about water conservation?! What about all the products you buy at a Trader Joe's that are literally packaged in - plastic? The irony.

Well, if there are plastic bags in some places then then we should just make millions more plastic bags & let them fester all over the place instead of trying to come up with solutions that are slowly eased into the world.

R40 I agree with you. I do have a couple of these reusable bags (standard size goes for $12) that I just toss into a gym bag, and they've been great; they fold up into a pouch when you don't need it, they weight next to nothing, yet they hold a lot of stuff. I've had one for over 10 years and it shows no signs of falling apart.

Yeah, some are a little on the 'frilly' side but the solid ones are great.

The contrarian fucks who infest this site and think they're catching us in HYPOCRISY by pointing out that banning plastic bags doesn't immediately solve all the world's problems in one stroke are tiresome twats. We get it. You're the jerk at parties who thinks he's smarter than everyone. There's Reddit for you.

R221, it really isn’t all that important for you to get all huffy.

I live in NYC and find it disgusting how many plastic bags are used. The default is to double bag everything. So a shopper buys a loaf of bread, some strawberries, a bag of popcorn and some lunch meat and the bagger divides it into two bags, which are inside two other bags. This is not sustainable, people!

R222, If it's not that important, why did you bother replying?

I thought this would be great too until I learned that making fabric reusable bags creates more pollution than plastic. Guess you need to pick your poison.

R224, I’m not the one here cursing everyone out over plastic bags.

R226 yet you're the one constantly having to have the last word over plastic bags.

I will just pay to use the paper bags. I was in whole foods today and the reusable bag they are selling are so ugly, I wouldn't be caught dead carrying one of them. I have always re-used the paper bags they gave me, I bring them to the store over and over, until they fall apart.

R221 get help, you're a psycho mess

Ever tried to walk home in the rain with paper bags?

What is the solution when you go to home depot or the container store? what are they gonna put your purchases in ( for oversized items)?

Bend over, they’ll show you.

Sorry, I just had to. It was too easy to pass up.

[quote]Ever tried to walk home in the rain with paper bags?

No, but I've woken up in the morning with a few guys I wished were wearing one.

Some of these posts are laughable. God Christ, where to start?

First, germs are everywhere. Feces particles are everywhere. Wash your hands regularly and get some sturdy canvas bags that can be washed. Second, plastic is not inherently evil, but if we can stop using it in excess, that's a good thing. Third, there are other alternatives for when you need to line a bin or pick up dog shit. Companies are starting to make compostable bags that work just as well as plastic. Fourth, humans are great at adapting, so just make some small changes around grocery shopping. It's not the end of the world to bring your own bags or pay a nickel when you need one.

[quote] Do you have to carry them with you all the time?

You carry them with you when you go shopping. Do you go shopping “all the time?” If so, then yes.

Well I reuse plastic bags as condoms so I'm really in trouble.

I mean, for oversized, heavy items...what the fuck are they gonna use? Paper is not strong enough...reusable bag is too small to contain it.

R237, maybe some of those Tyvek bags or the ones IKEA has. They’re big and strong.

It's just so funny the idiots who want to sit around and poke holes in the smallest gesture towards averting climate apocalypse. They're like 'devils advocate-ing' our way into oblivion.

Fuck you, R239! Plastic bags forever!

What do people use in their trash cans - simply buy Glad or Hefty bags?

I suppose it's time, and we should never have gotten used to this disposable mindset.

Still, the convenience was nice while it lasted.

I’m sick of all the disposable stuff like takeout food. Takeout used to cone in cardboard and wax paper. Now it’s metal with plastic tops, or plastic bottoms & tops. Chinese food is a big offender. For years Chinese food came in iconic waxed paper containers. Now Chinese food is a huge plastic pollutant.

My aunt had some old bedding in plastic garbage bags in her attic for about 10 yrs. When I helped her clean out her attic, the bags basically fell apart/disintegrated . I had some old grocery store type bags in the back of my hatchback for about 5 years (the hatchback was broken and I couldn't get back there) and they had completely fallen apart when we finally opened up the back

They are degradable

This is all a load of bullshit. You’re not saving the environment by banning straws or plastic bags. It’s a lost cause, period.

I am not very ecologically-minded but I switched over reusable bags. It's so much easier. I still drink bottled water though, and I don't plan on giving it up anytime soon.

Paper bags just don’t hold up to moisture.

[quote]My aunt had some old bedding in plastic garbage bags in her attic for about 10 yrs. When I helped her clean out her attic, the bags basically fell apart/disintegrated . I had some old grocery store type bags in the back of my hatchback for about 5 years (the hatchback was broken and I couldn't get back there) and they had completely fallen apart when we finally opened up the back...They are degradable

THIS is the level of stupid that is causing climate change.

How stupid do you have to be to think that either of those is an example of biodegradable.

[quote] THIS is the level of stupid that is causing climate change.

MAAAAAAARRRRRRRY!!!!

Taking plastic bags away from dollar store poundcake DLers is like taking away a crackhead's pipe.

Do NOT fuck with my Dollar Store poundcake.

You WILL be sorry.

I just read that they won't be enforcing it for a while...seeming that many stores complained about the shortage of paper bags...so stores can still give out plastic bags!

Yay! Great news, R251!!!

How is this controversial? Everywhere it's been instituted, it's been fine. I like not seeing plastic bags all over LA.

Where am I supposed to put my dogshit? I only shop in the suburbs now so I can get the bags.

R254, you can still buy those little shit baggies. You’ll still be able to buy plastic bags for anything.

The ban is for stores giving them away to customers.

Exactly, R255.

hey guys, what about those fruit stands? can they still give out plastic bags? I may have to start buying from them to get my fruits plus trash liners. I think they are exempt from the new law.

R255, like 99% of NYC reuses their plastic store bags. So what you are saying is that 99% of NYers will now have to buy heavier plastic bags to do everyday this like throwing out trash, picking up dog shit or cleaning kitty litter. Not to mention carting things to and from the office etc.

This law makes sense for NYS, but not for NYC.

My grocery store (north of the border) has just stopped using plastic. Full stop. Gone to paper if you must (for which they charge) or bring your own. I am trained now to bring my own. I just ordered bags for vegetables, so will take those too.

I haven't tried them yet, but compostable bags seem to sound like the best alternative. I'm curious though about how they hold up to refrigerated and frozen items from the grocery store which "sweat" as you going home with them. Are they sturdy enough as well?

I don't mind using cloth bags in general, but having to constantly clean them in the washing machine is also a nuisance, and seems rather wasteful in itself.

R258 Remember, there's always the deal, and the real deal. See how many politicians have invested in plastic bag companies and it will all make sense.

Hey guys let me sit here and idlly poke holes in a small improvement to our lives with petty whining and whataboutism! I feel fulfilled.

As long as you don't poke holes in the plastic bag holding dog shit, R262--otherwise you'll get it all over you.

[quote] How is this controversial? Everywhere it's been instituted, it's been fine. I like not seeing plastic bags all over LA.

The works doesn’t revolve around you, dear.

[quote] How is this controversial? Everywhere it's been instituted, it's been fine. I like not seeing plastic bags all over LA.

The world doesn’t revolve around you, dear.

Democrats are going to be run out on a rail over shit like this.

[quote] The works doesn’t revolve around you, dear

Or you, hun

Banning cheap plastic bags was completely painless in Boston. At first everyone was freaking out over the unimaginable thought of life without crappy plastic bags fluttering in the branches of trees or polluting waterways or killing wildlife. But once you're used to it, it's no trouble and city environments are so much cleaner as a result.

If you don't have your reusable bags in your car or backpack, you simply buy re-usable plastic or paper from the store for 10 or 20 cents each. Big fucking deal. And, as an added bonus, they are so much more manageable when taking in the groceries than those shitty, flimsy one-use supermarket plastic bags that tear, have holes and are generally poor quality with harmful environmental impact. Plus, you can fold them up and re-use each one over and over again for less than a quarter. Win/Win.

And biodegradable bags specifically for dog poop are readily available everywhere and are inexpensive and far less harmful in a landfill than single use supermarket bags that only serve to mummify your dog's poop in a plastic sarcophagus. Splurge on your pooch, ya cheap fucks.

I buy extra bags, that I have no intention of using and throw them directly into the ocean, to combat these stupid anti-bag laws.

Atta girl!

I'm gonna miss the strong plastic bags...they are much better than any re-usable bag or paper bag. The thick plastic bags are gonna be banned in NYC.

Just came back to NYC after a visit to California. Stores not giving out plastic bags works just fine. If you need a bag, they charge you 5 or 10 cents for a paper one.

It makes you think twice if you really need a bag for the few things you purchased

ABC News recently ran a report that plastic bag bans aren't all that green. They may reduce street litter, in some cases, but they are being replaced by less green alternatives.

You mean dragging oil out of the ground and manufacturing it into a single-use bag isn't totally "green"? You don't say.

It actually takes less oil and water to make the thin grocery bags than it does the alternatives, r274.

Are you talking about Sobeys, R259? I shop there and have used there reusable bags for years already and I always use the reusable produce bags too.

Anything else liberals want to ban?

Some reusable bags are cloth, R275.

I use these ones too.

Yes, r278, and the resources it takes to grow the material and manufacturer the bag makes it less green than the thin plastic.

Are you a petroleum engineer R275? Or just some dick on the internet who is playing DEVIL'S ADVOCATE.

Government overreach.

Are you sure, R279? Consider the number of plastic bags that are just thrown away compared to the number of reusable bags that can be kept for a number of years. I've had the cloth bags pictured at R278 for close to ten years. I only remember that because I first bought them when I moved. I can't imagine how many hundreds of single use plastic bags I would have gone through in that time period.

If you actually read my post at R273 you'd know asshole at R280.

Apparently, it takes thousands of uses for a cotton bag before it becomes carbon neutral, r282.

These laws should be limited to the suburbs where people can store tons of reusable bags in their gas guzzling SUVs. I live in Queens and don't own a car (you're welcome world!) And I'm not just going to carry reusable bags with me every time I leave my apartment, in case I stop off for groceries.

R285, chill out and buy a paper bag for a nickel, ok? It will be fine, everything will be fine.

Paper bags are really not green at all. The water and chemicals it takes to make them are bad for the environment.

not to mention all the trees that are being chopped down to make paper for the bags!

But paper bags break down unlike plastic ones. People will get used to it. They do have reusable bags that can fit in your coat pocket when folded.

Yup, causing people to buy heavier plastic trash bags which are worse, r289.

I mean, what about those big items from container stores? How are they gonna carry those big ass purchases home? They have huge gigantic plastic bags...

And Home Depot. Try bringing home a toolbox or heavy tools in a paper bag...see how far your will get.

I don't understand the big deal over these bans, even for people who don't have cars and walk or rely on public transit.

What the hell did people do in the days before single use plastic bags? They still managed to shop.

So maybe we just have to settle on what's the least worst solution. It seems to me a reusable plastic bag wins the race, but I don't have Asperger's.

[quote] I shop there and have used there reusable bags for years already

Oh, dear!

[quote]What the hell did people do in the days before single use plastic bags? They still managed to shop.

Yes, we did. We shopped our little heads off.

That is, until we were hollered at by the tree huggers because our paper bags were killing trees to make. Hence the switch to plastic.

Eldergay here. I shopped for years before those nasty plastic bags were introduced. Sometimes a paper bag would tear. But sometimes the plastic ones do, too.

Yesterday, my local grocery had completed its change over to paper bags. The bags were very strong. Stronger, in fact, then I remember them being in the 60s and 70s. None of the bags tore at all.

I think this will be great.

R290 you're nitpicking. Yes, people will buy larger, heavier bags for their garbage and then, guess what? They'll throw out their garbage once a week or when the bag is filled. And if it's smelly, they'll get a proper garbage can/pail with a lid. We lived without these bags and we can do it again.

R290 you're nitpicking. Yes, people will buy larger, heavier bags for their garbage and then, guess what? They'll throw out their garbage once a week or when the bag is filled. And if it's smelly, they'll get a proper garbage can/pail with a lid. We lived without these bags and we can do it again.

Let's see if Warren can blame this on Bloomberg.

[quote]but I don't have Asperger's.

Yeah, you do. The lesser of evils would be the grocery bags. Every alternative has its own issues. There isn't a truly green solution.

These are the foldable, easily portable bags I was referring to:

Oh dear lord!

Pink flamingos?

R100, that was my point, Einstein.

I was shopping in a store in a town that requires customers to pay for a bag, if they want one. This particular store always gives you a bag for free so I asked why. The clerk said that, since the bag ban went into effect, theft had risen considerably. Customers would just walk out with the stuff in their hands and nobody would stop them because it was assumed that they had waived purchasing a bag.

R175 - To R158 - “how much do you shit that you need that much toilet paper? A regular 4-pack last me a while. Maybe look at your diet and what you drink”.

Well smell busy-body, gastrointestinal guru, Nurse Ratchet @R175.

Ms. Ratchet, the logic of your argument is incongruous.

R158 buys toilet paper in bulk to save future trips; and you’ve twisted that into a questionnaire about the volume of his/ her movements, and a health care lesson. Your spew has nothing to do with the reason why he/ she buys toilet paper in bulk. And nobody gives a shit (pun), how long a 4-pack of toilet paper last’s you. Spare us the details....

Thanks for pointing out that was a pun. It usually makes things much funnier that way.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Snark and puns! Great read.

Chicago tried to ban plastic bags a few years ago, and then, in the great Chicago tradition, decided to tax plastic bags. Now, I do all of my shopping in the suburbs.

Does everyone realize that we arrived here using plastic bags because in the 80s we were demonized for using paper bags and cutting down all the trees? So we were forced by the government to use the shitty plastic bags which we're now being demonized for using. The heavy multi use bags use much more plastic and will still end up in the landfills. I have a large Dunkin' Donuts iced tea often in the morning. That cup is made of plastic. The gallon of milk I bought yesterday is in plastic. My tube of toothpaste,plastic, along with the plastic my daily wear contact lenses come in.The book I ordered from Amazon, shrink wrapped in heavy plastic, shipped in a box. There's so much fucking plastic in use, the government should offer tax insentives to companies to package their shit in something earth friendly.

it's such a scam that we are being charged 5cents for bottles too. I was told by a homeless person who collects cans for money that not all cans are accepted by the machines.

Your homeless person is not entirely correct. If a deposit was paid on the can or bottle, it is available to be refunded. But some grocery stores elect to limit the refunds that they handle.

The machines at my closest grocery accepts everything that that store sells, but nothing from Trader Joe and nothing from Aldi. If the attendant is there and you're nice, he can personally process the bottles and cans the machines rejected. The independent storefront redemption businesses accept everything on which a deposit was paid.

The details will change from state to state, but a deposit is a deposit, not a fee. You return the item, you get the deposit back. In New York, to promote the local hard apple cider breweries, there is no deposit on bottles and cans containing hard cider. Vexing, but there it is. It pays to have a good lobbyist.

the annoying thing is NYC is people slicing garbage bags open to search for cans. It’s great that no can in NYC doesn’t get recycled, but the rats love the open garbage bags too.

As for cans and bottles in Oregon, as long as the bottle is marked with an OR - $0.10, it can collected through a store. They may need to hand count it, but they'll still take it back.

Also, there is never going to be a perfect redemption of all cans and bottles sold, so that fund is always going to have a surplus. Some stores are more bitchy than others about hand counting, but they can do it.

[quote]So we were forced by the government to use the shitty plastic bags which we're now being demonized for using.

LOL, no. Not in the US. Maybe you're in another country.

The plastic bag started becoming ubiquitous in 1982, when the two largest supermarket chains, Safeway and Kroger, made the switch from paper to plastic. Other stores followed, but for much of the 80s, shoppers were asked "Paper or plastic?" at checkout.

R309, yes, that has been mentioned a few times in the thread.

And r314, yes that was the trend, but then state governments outlawed paper bags and stores switched to plastic.

Oh? Which states? When? Who voted for them? Or is it possible you're completely making shit up?

Lots of state and local governments did ban paper bags. There were lots of reasons.

While they are compostable in favorable conditions, land fills don't really provide those favorable conditions and paper bags can also be slow to degrade. There is a great deal more water used in producing a paper bag than there is in producing a plastic bag. The ban also provided an incentive for logging companies to reduce clear cutting. The plastic bags are made with by-products of oil refinement. Continuing with plastic bags continues an incentive for energy companies to stay invested in fossil fuel.

There were reasons for the plastic bags. But who could have anticipated how the mutherfuckers would proliferate?

I love people like r316 who live in their own little bubble and figure if it didn’t happen in their neck of the woods, it couldn’t possibly have happened anywhere else in the entire fucking country.

Like making up shit for an anonymous board is why we come here instead of relaying our actual life experiences.

It’s not plastic va paper bags, folks.

But a reusable bag and use it for years and years

Uh, what?

And yet R317 and R318 insist that this mysterious ban 'lots' of state and local governments enacted without being able to name a single date or location. You can say, i suppose, that they don't feel like researching it, and that's fine, but they do seem to get off telling someone else You're Wrong. Which is just weird.

I went to my local grocery store yesterday with my reusable bag. I filled up the bag I came with and bought an extra paper bag for five whole cents. It was fine.

I keep 1 or 2 of the heavy plastic ones R7 mentioned in my bag. They don't weigh anything or take up space.

[quote]not to mention all the trees that are being chopped down to make paper for the bags!

"Chopping down trees" is not the cause of the climate crisis. It's not a crisis at all. Forestry is the definition of a sustainable resource; trees are chopped down and new ones are planted. This has been the cycle for millennia. People have always used wood for fuel and production. The climate crisis is caused by, among other things, a dependance on single use plastic. In a broader sense it's about reliance on fossil fuels. None of that has anything to do with trees or paper bags.

The stupidity here is breathtaking.

The enforcement has been pushed back to May 15! yay!

Several years ago the machine banned plastic shopping bags in Chicago, and then, in the great democrat machine tradition, decided to allow them with a 7 cent per bag tax. Never let a crisis to go waste! This has resulted in my doing all of my shopping in the suburbs where you can get all of the plastic bags you want. My ten year stint living in New York City taught me that the quickest way to get roaches in your home is using paper shopping bags.

Pity . They will be in demand.

Our local chain is telling people not to being in reusable bags, since so many neglect to wash them, resulting in their being a breeding ground for bacteria.