Poll: Should Your Town Ban Single-Use Plastic Grocery Bags?

fryder April 28, 2012 at 12:43 pm

It would save the businesses the cost of buying the plastic bags.

Cassandra April 28, 2012 at 01:02 pm

Reusable bags, hands down. They are better for the environment and eliminate the need for plastic and/or paper bags. They are sturdier and rarely break. They don't add unnecessary additional plastic and/or paper bags to landfills. You are also preventing the bags from potentially harming wildlife in the event that your plastic bags find their way to the ocean or other wildlife habitats. Plastic bags are oil-based, and that will become an increasing issue as our oil numbers continue to drop. Just recently, there has been a push from Shell to begin drilling in the Arctic -- a sensitive area of the planet with ice melting earlier and earlier every year -- because we need that oil. But if a spill like the Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010 occurred there, the area would be utterly devastated.
To me, there's no competition. Reusable bags are best.

Tom Yarnall April 28, 2012 at 01:40 pm

I wash them only if I put dog poop in them.

Wendy Birnbaum April 28, 2012 at 01:46 pm

Although I have several reusable grocery bags in my trunk, I too was forgetting to bring them into the store. I put a reminder on my phone which notifies me every time I pull up to my grocery store now....".BRING BAGS", it barks! Voila now I remember!

W. Mike Marshall April 28, 2012 at 02:11 pm

Well intended, I bought the reusable bags but always forgot them in the van until one day as the clerk was loading up groceries my 12 year old daughter insisted on running out to get them and use them! Yeah for us! I was impressed at how strong they were, no plastic bag ripping, no trash and it held the groceries more securely without getting crushed, so I am now a big fan of reusable+just turn into out and wash once in a while and they stay clean! I'm SOLD!

Debi April 28, 2012 at 03:07 pm

I personally use reusable bags. I just see this ban as more government intrusion of what I can and can do.

Larry April 28, 2012 at 03:51 pm

Not eveyone has the reusable bags, so businesses will have to offer an alternative to plastic.

Larry April 28, 2012 at 04:08 pm

Here's the good news, Santee won't be passing such a ban.

anthony p banaga April 28, 2012 at 04:51 pm

Lets ban them, the sooner we can adapt.

Josephina DiSalvo April 28, 2012 at 08:59 pm

Ansolutely and ASAP It is our duty to our health & survival safeguard the sealife and earth we rely on to sustain McKay Jenkins book What's Gotten Into Us
Www.mckayjenkins.com. Is a powerful source of current information on plastic and it's toxicity on human and environment This is not a economical or political issue, it is a human survival issue BAG IT documentary aired on KPBS has details of the life cycle of plastic from bags to water bottle containers and their life cycle and negative impact on us in Carlsbad to a village in China and ocean between suffering the continuation illnesses and affects more articles like this are needed posing the questions and linking us to information, remedies and action each one if us can impliment

Larry April 28, 2012 at 09:18 pm

Eh, not so much.

Larry April 28, 2012 at 09:19 pm

Nah, we got a smoking ban and power plant to fight.

Doug Curlee April 28, 2012 at 11:00 pm

congratulations, josephina..
that is the longest single sentence i've ever seen written in my life.. i've read it three times..i;m still not sure what you said.. but it was a long trip getting to it.. doug

Larry April 29, 2012 at 11:21 am

I have one word for you people, takeout.
What will restaurants serve takeout foot to us in if these bags are banned? What's next, the styrofoam containers that takeout food is served in? "Save the enviornment!" Heck with that, a guy's gotta eat.

againstthegrain April 29, 2012 at 02:21 pm

Single use bags are on the way out of use in the US, though perhaps not as fast as needed, but the trend is definitely moving in that direction, at least on the E/W coasts. European grocery and department stores were years ahead of the US with multiple bagging options, including free single-single use bags (which few customers seem to opt for because the bags tend to be thinner and even more flimsy than the single-use bags in the US). Most Europeans I know and have observed seem to prefer the option to purchase sturdier reusable plastic bags at the checkout stand for a nominal charge and later reuse the bags over and over. Increasingly, US stores and customers have adopted a similar strategy, and, at least in the stores I frequent, customers seem to be readily embracing the sturdy reusable bag option. Single-use bags might be reusable for some purposes like lining wastepaper cans, etc, but they are more often than not prone to leaks, developing holes & big splits, making them rather unreliable for substantial reuse. Composting, recycling, and purposefully not buying products with excessive packaging reduces the necessity for many plastic waste bags.
BTW, I've noticed that very few grocery stores in Europe provide any bagging service at all - the customers must bag their purchases themselves, no matter how large the number of grocery items. Maybe that has something to do with the European habit of reusing sturdier bags.

Tom Yarnall April 29, 2012 at 09:00 pm

Woe is me. Another personal favorite being taken away by the brain washed environmental freaks. What's next, the black garbage can liner? Say it ain't so!!.

Komfort May 9, 2012 at 10:31 am

Sickening...
http://www.m.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/news/20120508/norovirus-outbreak-traced-reusable-grocery-bag?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Selina Forte May 9, 2012 at 12:41 pm

A little misleading, don't you think? It was because the bag was in the restroom where the first girl got sick. However, to avoid things like this, put your bags in the wash from time to time.

Marianne West May 9, 2012 at 01:10 pm

I used to own a small business and the cost of plastic bags is enormous. Shoppers should bring their own bags or baskets. It is not difficult once you get into the habit. Most of Europe can do it- so can we. If you own a business and want to offer an alternative, offer it for sale with a profit.

Komfort May 9, 2012 at 01:12 pm

Since the title of the article, and the article itself, and what you gleaned from the article form a perfect chorus, I fail to recognise what is misleading.
I do like your suggestion to use more of our limited water to wash the bags. That seems like a good way to send more pollutants down the drain, also. A win-win.

Larry May 9, 2012 at 01:37 pm

"more pollutants down the drown"?
As in the sewer?

Komfort May 9, 2012 at 01:58 pm

Misquoting me is misleading.

Larry May 9, 2012 at 02:54 pm

Sorry, I drowned when I should have drained.

Selina Forte May 9, 2012 at 03:43 pm

I really don't see how throwing a couple bags in with laundry you are already doing is throwing more pollutants down the drain.

Kevin George May 9, 2012 at 03:53 pm

This Country used to be all about choice.
How about this: Those that want to use environmentally friendly reusable bags use reusable bags. Those that want the convenience of plastic or have another use for them use plastic. The problem starts when some people think they know what other people need.

Steven Bartholow (Editor) May 9, 2012 at 04:04 pm

But, shouldn't the shop have the CHOICE not to provide plastic bags?

Kevin George May 9, 2012 at 04:52 pm

Absolutely Steve, the shop can voluntarily do what they want in regard to bags, but that is not the question here.
When you are talking about a City sanctioned ban you have removed choice from everyone. That store could choose to not provide bags, hopefully the people in favor of reusable bags would patronize that store because of that fact and improve business. Others may not patronize them because they don't provide bags. That's my point, give people a choice and let the market decide. as opposed to deciding for everyone what they need or prefer.

Komfort May 9, 2012 at 04:59 pm

And Tom Cruise didn't see how the cars used in "Days of Thunder" could be part of the problem either.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2026&dat=19900419&id=3yYuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=r9AFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3070,2632007

M Clark April 6, 2013 at 11:27 am

I agree. I reuse my plastic bags for many things that otherwise I'd need to purchase some type of moisture proof bag, including picking up dog crap. I also have read several reports of food borne illness being spread by the reusable cloth like bags. San Francisco with the highest infection rate, leader in the reusable bag idea. So add in the energy of washing the cloth bags to avoid cross contamination. You might as well throw in the expense of getting sick too because you know taking the bags back and forth from the car to the washer and back into the trunk, so they are available will not happen for the average busy shopper. I wise these Eco-fanatics would realize they are not going to change climate by their piddley efforts. If you could remove all carbon footprint on the entire globe it would not even make a half of a degree of change. Man is not as powerful as he thinks.

M Clark April 6, 2013 at 11:38 am

Just make the grocery bags biodegradable and get a life! So much BS energy on crap. I'm not going to do the cloth sacks. I already have refused the pay for your bag thing and made the checker load the shit into the cart without bags and put it I in my trunk. I do the same at Costco because I am not dealing with the cumbersome boxes the try to push off on me.