Grocery shopping bags!!

[Apocalypse]

I miss the paper bags. I would just use that as a trash can. Plastic bags rip too easily.

I've never seen a canvas or cloth bag in my life, but it sounds unsanitary.

[DaShi]

I get the canvas bags then throw them away when I get home.

[Blake]

Another thing I do when shopping. You know how with fresh fruit and veges (hopefully everyone knows what they are), you normally grab a little plastic bag and put the fruit/vegse in the bag?

I don't bother with the little plastic bags unless I'm buying more than about 3 pieces at once (usually I go for a wide variety*). The checkout clerks have no trouble with bag-less fruit (I really don't think they mind) and it's never come to harm by being loose in my cloth bags.

This quite dramatically cuts down the number of plastic bags I end up with.

You also pay less, because those plastic bags? They weigh something . Not much, but it's something. I often buy about 6 different types of fruit/vege and and that's 6 less plastic bags. I'm very happy when I manage to have a plastic-bag free shopping trip .

* I was kind of shocked when I first heard the idea of buying a SINGLE piece of fruit or a single vege, but there's absolutely no reason not to, if you only want the one. Though usually I buy them in pairs.

[MrFun]

Re: Re: Grocery shopping bags!!

Originally posted by SlowwHand


So you're bragging about leaving some poor little canvas as an orphan?

I do not have a troubled conscience when it comes to orphaned canvas bags.

[Wittlich]

I am the ONLY one to vote Paper Bags.

Plastic is NOT Earth-Friendly. Paper is.

I demand my groceries be placed in paper bags. Plus, I use them for my recycling.

I am just SHOCKED that no one else chose paper.

[Wittlich]

Originally posted by Apocalypse
I miss the paper bags. I would just use that as a trash can. Plastic bags rip too easily.

I've never seen a canvas or cloth bag in my life, but it sounds unsanitary.

Uhmmm, so Apocalypse, are you saying that you cannot get your goods packed in a paper bag in Texas? I am just asking, since it is a choice over here in California.

[Jon Miller]

Paper costs more resources to make, so is likely less earth safe.

JM
(unless you reuse)

[Wittlich]

Originally posted by Jon Miller
Paper costs more resources to make, so is likely less earth safe.

JM
(unless you reuse)

Ok - Good point JM. But let's take it one step further shall we:

Plastic takes less resources. GIVEN.

Paper takes more resources. GIVEN.

Now, paper degrades down to it's basic elements? A Short time.

Plastic degrades down to it's basic elements? Takes an Eon.

If we go by JM's policy, we will have used plastic waste up to our ass by the tend of this decade.

Why is there still a decision of plastic vs. paper?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by Wittlich

Why is there still a decision of plastic vs. paper?

There isn't, as far as I can tell -- I can't remember the last time I was offered a paper bag. That might be because I live overseas, though.

I use plastic, and reuse the bags as kitchen trash bags. Not ideal, but the best I can do in the circumstances.

[Wittlich]

Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly


There isn't, as far as I can tell -- I can't remember the last time I was offered a paper bag. That might be because I live overseas, though.

I use plastic, and reuse the bags as kitchen trash bags. Not ideal, but the best I can do in the circumstances.

OK, granted. But where does that same plastic bag eventually end up? Normally in a garbage heap where it will take eons for it to finally brake down to its basic elements.

This is not so for the paper bag - in a compose, it will only take a few weeks to a couple of months for it to return to the soil.

With conservation, trees can still supply our paper needs - as long as lumber mills have a policy to "replant-what -they-reap"...or is this just a "Californian Frame of Mind"?

[Wittlich]

As a matter of fact, there is a law being voted on here soon in California that will charge customers a fee for using plastic bags over paper.

[EPW]

They aren't doing much harm in a garbage heap, and there is the potential that they could be recycled in the future.

And shouldn't we be asleep right now?

[Wittlich]

And in the news...

San Francisco Nears Ban on Plastic Grocery Bags
by Richard Gonzales

Morning Edition, March 14, 2007 · San Francisco may be on the verge of becoming the first city in the country to ban plastic shopping bags because they're bad for the environment.

Some experts say the bags are one of the biggest sources of pollution in the city. By some estimates, San Francisco markets generate $200 million of them every year.

County Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi wants to banish the bags from the city once and for all.

He said, "What it takes in petroleum use to make these polyethylene plastic bags, and the cost to discard these bags, begs the larger question: what are we going to do about the hazards and the environmental adverse effects of these plastic bags?"

Mirkarimi's proposal calls on grocers to use recyclable paper, plastic that can be composted or re-usable bags.

But the proposal is vigorously opposed by the grocery industry. Peter Larkin, president of the California Grocers Association, says his member stores already have an active plastic-bag recycling program.

"In our opinion, it will frustrate our efforts to continue to reduce, re-use and recycle carry-out bags," Larkin said. "Second, it will raise the cost of doing business for us, which will translate into increased costs for the consumers. It may unintentionally lead to the use of paper bags only, which … would increase waste."

The grocers and the city have been at odds since 2005 when officials first proposed a 17-cent tax on every plastic bag. That's when the grocers agreed to voluntarily cut back. But Mirkarimi says the program failed.

"Their heart wasn't in it and they did a very lackluster job and frankly they didn't live up to the terms of the agreement," he said.

"We think it was a wild success, and I again do not understand why they say we did not live up to our side of the bargain," Larkin said. "That is just false."

What is not in dispute is the potential domino effect if San Francisco bans plastic grocery bags. Larkin says he expects a potential ban here would spread in California. The bags have already been outlawed in South Africa, Taiwan and Bangladesh. Ireland imposes a plastic-bag tax.

Judging from an unscientific survey of shoppers outside a large grocery store in San Francisco's Mission District, the proposed ban is a popular idea.

"As far as I'm concerned I don't care what they bag it in, they could easily bag it in paper," Pat Coleman said. "And I'll recycle the paper. As long as it has handles on it."

Consultant Michael Dane hopes the ban passes.

"With all this plastic flying around, it's not only a nuisance but an eyesore," Dane said.

The proposed ban is endorsed by a majority of the Board of Supervisors and Mayor Gavin Newsom. Whether it will apply to chain pharmacies as well as the city's largest grocers will be debated later this month.

Link: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...toryId=8888798

[EPW]

SF hates trees

[Wittlich]

Originally posted by EPW
And shouldn't we be asleep right now?

Yes, I have thought of that....but I don't have classes tomorrow and can afford to burn the midnight oil.

What is your excuse EPW?