07-17-2011, 02:15 PM
Stores definitely overuse them. I counted like 6 unneeded ones on a recent visit to Safeway - I don't need my detergent in a bag - it has a handle - I don't need a separate bag for, say, the potatoes - Rob's example was a good one. And since I do use them for dog poo and trash bags, I'd like them to stay around. I like the fact that they have more than one life. I appreciate how easy they are to carry vs. a paper bag. What I don't use, I recycle.
Remember when plastic bags first came out and everyone was up in arms because they felt they squished the bread, etc., and wanted good ol' paper bags? We would have less plastic bags turning into airborne flotsam and jetsam if more people took their responsibilities seriously. But in an area that has no trash pickup, where people take their own loads of trash to the transfer station, you're going to get more of them flying around. I have cloth reusable bags in the trunk of my car and I've yet to remember them each and every time I go into a store!
All that said, and being a card-carrying Leftie, I do totally get the argument that it's stupid for government to mandate no plastic bags at checkouts. They're convenient for the stores, they're convenient for the shoppers. Mandate store plastic bag recycling bins if you want to mandate something. (btw, I also am against mandated obsolescence of incandescent bulbs. I like them for use in dimming lights -- the dimming CFLs don't dim the same. If I want them, I want to be able to buy them.)
Remember when plastic bags first came out and everyone was up in arms because they felt they squished the bread, etc., and wanted good ol' paper bags? We would have less plastic bags turning into airborne flotsam and jetsam if more people took their responsibilities seriously. But in an area that has no trash pickup, where people take their own loads of trash to the transfer station, you're going to get more of them flying around. I have cloth reusable bags in the trunk of my car and I've yet to remember them each and every time I go into a store!
All that said, and being a card-carrying Leftie, I do totally get the argument that it's stupid for government to mandate no plastic bags at checkouts. They're convenient for the stores, they're convenient for the shoppers. Mandate store plastic bag recycling bins if you want to mandate something. (btw, I also am against mandated obsolescence of incandescent bulbs. I like them for use in dimming lights -- the dimming CFLs don't dim the same. If I want them, I want to be able to buy them.)