Pandemic deals blow to plastic bag bans, plastic reduction

[N-OS X-tasy!]

M A V I C wrote:
[quote=davester]
All the stores in the SF bay area use paper bags if you don't bring your own. I can't remember when I last saw a disposable plastic bag (except for the produce department).

Yeah, I'm not sure why a ban on reusable bags means plastic bags are coming back.
...because they are? Of all the stores where I shop, only Trader Joe’s uses paper bags — the rest all use plastic.

[Thrift Store Scott]

Acer wrote:
Civilization advanced pretty far without plastic bags. My entire childhood we somehow managed to get heavy and wet (I assume you mean frozen things that pick up condensation) items home in paper. What's lost is the skill to pack a paper bag properly.

I could counter your initial claim with a list of other inventions we use every day that civilization got pretty far without, but I'll pass. My point was that even though they are much more environmentally friendly the production capacity for paper bags is no longer there, hasn't been there for many years due to lack of demand, and would take months if not years to put back into place whereas plastic bags are still in widespread production and a new or additional order of them can be shipped at a moment's notice without delay.

Referring to the Union Camp paper mill in my earlier post, assuming it wasn't torn down and the land sold and that it instead was carefully mothballed for possible future use, it still wouldn't be allowed to open again once it shut down without being upgraded to meet current environmental regulations which would be the equivalent of building a whole new plant from scratch.

[Rolando]

Steve G. wrote:
Hurray...I'm getting my garbage bags back!

Back when I was single, I bought a box on 1000 shopping bags at Sam's Warehouse, for about $10. They lasted me about 3 years!

Now available in Stylish Black for $14!
https://www.samsclub.com/p/black-t-shirt...roduct_1_2

[Thrift Store Scott]

Rolando wrote:
[quote=Steve G.]
Hurray...I'm getting my garbage bags back!

Back when I was single, I bought a box on 1000 shopping bags at Sam's Warehouse, for about $10. They lasted me about 3 years!

Now available in Stylish Black for $14!
https://www.samsclub.com/p/black-t-shirt...roduct_1_2

Piggly Wiggly and to a lesser extent Walgreen's keep me amply supplied with plastic bags for free, to the point that I've gone from double- to triple- and lately quadruple-bagging the garbage I put in them just to keep the stockpile from building up. I now use regular trash bags only for wet stuff such as used coffee filters and tea bags along with bulky or hard-to-contain stuff like packing peanuts or shredded paper.

[mrbigstuff]

Around me, the plastic (along with a myriad of other trash) ends up in the storm drains and the rivers, clogging the drains and causing flooding, so I'm not happy to have the plastic return. But I do acknowledge DinerDave's point about small businesses and cost.

[Lew Zealand]

Our local TJs keeps it simple: Continue to use your reusable bags and bag your own groceries. It's not that difficult to figure out.

[raz]

Acer wrote:
Civilization advanced pretty far without plastic bags. My entire childhood we somehow managed to get heavy and wet (I assume you mean frozen things that pick up condensation) items home in paper. What's lost is the skill to pack a paper bag properly.

I'm pretty sure the bags were both larger and thicker back in the day. Modern paper bags are close to tissue paper.

In any event, we're just taking the cart with the unbagged groceries out to the car and putting them in our reusable bags.

Obligatory thread hijack ... Don't you love checking out with a 10 pound bag of potatoes and the cashier trying to put it in a bag?

[davester]

Thrift Store Scott wrote:
[quote=M A V I C]
[quote=davester]
All the stores in the SF bay area use paper bags if you don't bring your own. I can't remember when I last saw a disposable plastic bag (except for the produce department).

Yeah, I'm not sure why a ban on reusable bags means plastic bags are coming back.
Plastic bags were so vastly superior to paper bags for groceries, especially anything wet or heavy, that the plants that made paper bags shut down years ago and the paper bag industry, while still in existence, doesn't have anywhere near the capacity it would need to compete with plastic in any meaningful way.
Vastly superior!? Surely you jest. Apart from their being an environmental problem in multiple ways, I prefer the paper bags frankly. Also, plants have shut down only in some areas and that's no excuse anyway. It's been illegal to use plastic grocery bags in California, Hawaii, New York, and Oregon for years. You can only use paper or reusables here, just like it was 30 years ago.

[davester]

N-OS X-tasy! wrote:
[quote=M A V I C]
[quote=davester]
All the stores in the SF bay area use paper bags if you don't bring your own. I can't remember when I last saw a disposable plastic bag (except for the produce department).

Yeah, I'm not sure why a ban on reusable bags means plastic bags are coming back.
...because they are? Of all the stores where I shop, only Trader Joe’s uses paper bags — the rest all use plastic.
I don't understand that. Plastic shopping bags are illegal throughout California, and have been for some time. How have all those stores been getting away with it? Disposable plastic shopping bags just don't exist here in Northern California.

[N-OS X-tasy!]

davester wrote:
[quote=N-OS X-tasy!]
[quote=M A V I C]
[quote=davester]
All the stores in the SF bay area use paper bags if you don't bring your own. I can't remember when I last saw a disposable plastic bag (except for the produce department).

Yeah, I'm not sure why a ban on reusable bags means plastic bags are coming back.
...because they are? Of all the stores where I shop, only Trader Joe’s uses paper bags — the rest all use plastic.
I don't understand that. Plastic shopping bags are illegal throughout California, and have been for some time. How have all those stores been getting away with it? Disposable plastic shopping bags just don't exist here in Northern California.
The Albertson's near me uses the thicker plastic bags that are meant to be reused.