Paper...or Plastic...or....

[East]

What are the laws/regulations where you live in regard to recycling and receiving plastic or paper bag when you go shopping?

In the SF Bay Area and Silicon Valley...many cities do not hand out plastic bags and if you want a paper bag you have to pay 10 cents. I have a stack of my own canvas bag in each of my trunks to take in the store with me but I get confused because it all depends on what city you are in whether or not you get a bag.....

I suspect plastic bags will be banned statewide very soon...at least it will end the confusion...

EDIT: Ooops..I forgot...California already became the first state to ban plastic bags...the laws go into effect statewide from Jan 1 2015 - Jan 1 2016....

Do you still get plastic or free bags where you are?

[bluedragon]

Yes I still get plastic bags here. There are some shops here which practice 'no plastic Wednesday' whereby they don't issue plastic bags on Wednesdays .

[dynamodean]

One can still get plastic and paper bags in the San Diego area but in many neighboring cities only paper bags are provided...with a ten cent charge. I have a couple canvas bags in my trunk for "just in case" usage but I can never remember to bring them with me. Dumb, I know.

[LJay]

Nothing is banned here, though I would not object to the banishing of plastic. You can only recycle them at the grocery store. Worst part is that they are a pain to use. Much prefer my cloth bags with good handles, though I do not have enough of them since they get used for all sorts of things. Without the cloth and given the choice, I will go for paper. At least they stand up by themselves when used for trash.

[ck86]

In England at the moment nothing is banned but the shops offer an incentive to reuse your own bags. In Scotland it's 5p for a bag.

[TwisttheLeaf]

To be honest? I have no idea what the laws are. A few cities over when they banned plastic bags (last year, I think?), I went and bought myself a slew of cloth ones (they came in a package of 10) and I've been using them instead ever since. I have a few in my trunk and one always folded up in a coat pocket, another tucked in a side pocket of my messenger bag. They come in handy.

[jimcrackcorn]

I remember when plastic bags first appeared at grocery stores. There was this big push to get everyone to use plastic instead of paper bags - because we would be saving thousands of trees every year by not using paper bags.

Now they're trying to get us to stop using plastic & paper bags!!!!...

Shoot,,, I've got plenty pillow cases in the linen closet that I can sew cloth handles on and use them as shopping bags!!!! Might even embroider them with pretty pink flowers (smile)..

If you asked me,, I think the grocery stores are looking at the bottom-line and figured they could save themselves a few bucks by making everyone buy their own cloth bags to hold groceries.

Many stores are already having us bag our own groceries so they don't have to hire baggers. And,, forcing us to buy & bring our own bags too - is just another way for big business to squeeze a little more money out of our pockets and putting it into their own. After all,,, it's embarrassing for them to be seen skippering across the seas in 'last years undersized 140 foot yacht'...

Yep,, I'm being a little cynical at the moment.. What can I say - it's been raining for 3 days straight and there seems to be a cloud hanging over my head!!!

[Radbot42]

Plastic bags are everywhere here in Michigan. Some people bring their bags, and although it's unrelated we do get 10 cents per can or bottle giving us incentive to recycle. However it is only for caffeinated beverages and beer. All recyclable bottles should be returnable though. We'd be so much greener. I didn't know some places didn't use plastic bags. Good for them. We always have so many of them, we can never get rid of them.

[East]

^^^I am thinking that maybe Washington and Oregon and a few of the New England states may go there next.....

I think it is completely "immoral" and irresponsible to leave so much trash behind for future generations...so we can have "convenience"....I absolutely support the new law...just wish it was uniform across the board in all the cities but now I see that soon enough it will be.....

I think I have over 20 of the big canvas tote bags now in my trunk plus the giant Costco ones...my BF has a "thing" about bags and backpacks and can't resist buying the good quality ones in his travels...

[ShiftyNJ]

Where I live in NJ we can recycle pretty much anything we can clean up first. They will take plastics 1-7 (so basically any manner of bag or packaging), styrofoam, glass, metal, paper, cardboard. As long as it doesn't have food or stuck to it and isn't soaked with grease or other liquid. We don't have to sort it much, either. Only paper/cardboard one week and everything else the next. We're down to pretty much one bag of unrecyclable garbage a week, excluding cat litter which is another biohazard I don't know how to fix.

The grocery stores here all sell reusable bags fairly cheaply (I think Stop & Shops's are 99c), and Whole Foods gives you I think 10c back for every one you use. Stop & Shop also used to do that, but they stopped. They still give out an awful lot of bags (they have both; Whole Foods only has paper), so I don't think it has caught on too well here yet.

We have a good number of those bags but I still forget to put them back in my truck when they're empty. Stop & Shop also accepts bags for recycling, and I have been known to grab some of those instead of taking new ones.