Plastic bags

[LJay]

We may as well face it. We are smothering ourselves in waste. Anything we can to to handle it more responsibly is worth the effort. Plastic packaging means less breakage, lighter freight weights and therefore less fuel usage, etc. but there are drawbacks as listed above. There is no one easy solution.

[Pcolakuntryboy]

I remember when I was a kid stuff like ketchup, mayonnaise, and Gatorade came in glass jars, but honestly I'm not sure that's much better. Glass is permanent, it doesn't go away. The place where I work was built on top of an old junkyard probably 40 years ago, and you wouldn't believe the amount of broken glass that still works its way to the surface.

[jimcrackcorn]

Back in the 1970's,,, the grocery stores were trying to get us to use plastic bags instead of paper bags because it was more environmentally correct to protect the trees (which paper bags were made from)....

Now,,, they want us to move away from using plastic bags because that is causing harm to the environment as well.

The newest thing to use is cloth bags.... And in another 20 years they will find that cloth is a bad idea too..... Probably because cloth bags are made in 3rd world sweat shops where children are forced to work 19 hours a day for very small wages. I think that most people will not use them anyway because they have to buy them & carry them to the store each time they go shopping. The average person just doesn't want to spend the money to buy them and deal with using them each time they go shopping. We're lazy creatures who prefer to use those free throwaway bags (smile)...

Plastic is the best suitable solution in the long-run. We just need to do a better job of recycling,,, and make more of the plastic throwaway products with degradable plastic.

I use degradable plastic bags for my yard debris. They degrade within 3 to 6 months, which is pretty good for what it is designed for. I'd like to buy degradable plastic bags for my kitchen & bath garbage,,, but I haven't seen any where I shop (so far)..

My honest opinion is that plastic & paper bags are here to stay.. There is simply no other material that can be made & used cheaply!!!

Sin-cerely,
Jim

[LJay]

Aw, Jim, don't give the cloth bags too hard of a time. I have some that I have had for years.

They are great in my book because it is so much easier to carry a heavy load without having the plastic cut into my hands.

[jimcrackcorn]

Aw, Jim, don't give the cloth bags too hard of a time. I have some that I have had for years.

They are great in my book because it is so much easier to carry a heavy load without having the plastic cut into my hands.

Oh darling,,, you simply must start using those cute little check-out boys to carry the groceries to your car!!!

Or maybe you'll have my luck and get a grumpy old bag lady carrying your groceries every time <fleeeeeeeeeeeeee>

Crazy as ever,
Jim

[TwisttheLeaf]

Well, where I'm coming from is this:

I suffer from migraine. I had car rides where I had to vomit again and again, like every 15 minutes.
You can't tell whoever's driving to stop the car just whenever you have to get some relief. Also, you need to close it so that other people in the car don't get bothered by the smell, or that nothing gets spilled. Paper bags won't ever be able to accomplish that task.

I know there was a time without plastic bags, but there was a time without cars.
I'd much rather see a limitation of cars than a ban on plastic bags...

You really need some Tupperware, man. Or even something like, empty margarine containers with lids, etc. Plastic bags leak. At least you can reuse a container, yeah?

[trywait]

plastic bags are banned in grocery stores in los angeles and san Francisco. then in Hawaii, they've also banned them as well. it's become a habit to bring in those fabric bags from the car but if I forget them, it's only a dollar at most places to but a fabric bag or 10 cents for their paper bag.

im for that degradable plastic bag within 6 months!

[LONDONER]

The average person just doesn't want to spend the money to buy them and deal with using them each time they go shopping. We're lazy creatures who prefer to use those free throwaway bags (smile)...

Tesco, the largest supermarket chain in the UK that incidentally belongs to Walmart, recently announced that after the Goverment introduction of a 5 pence charge for every plastic bag, their use has dropped 78%.

Here in Spain, in Catalonia, the autonomous Government has introduced a 5 cent charge on all plastic bags. In the rest of Spain is is just charged in large shops and supermarkets but now in Catalonia the charge will appply to even street market stalls.

[LONDONER]

Fish can degrade plastic? First time I've heard of that lol

Diod you read that correctly Insert? I said "ingest", not "degrade". Micro pellets are used in many products, toothpaste and exfoliating cream for instance. This gets washed down the drain and eventually ends up in the sea where it is ingested by fish and thus passed down the food chain not only to humans but to other wildlife too.

Those plastic "rings" that hold six packs together are responsible for the deaths of many aquatuic birds that get caught up in them.

[GuyOverThere]

I agree with such restrictions on plastic bags. I'm all for the 5p charge in shops here.

There's nothing wrong with investing in a fabric bag tbh.