I stopped going to a local "natural" store because of their refusal to use any bags - you must bring your own. They got a lot of business from me, now their competitor does because they offer paper bags which are recyclable in my neck of the woods.
Plastic shopping bags
- Thread starter Middle Earther
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Costco does that too, sort of. They make you use boxes (which they provide).
Yeah, I know. I go to Costco once a month! But you're right, they offer boxes which are just as useful and once broken down go right in my recycle bin.
Saves them having to cut up/break down/dispose/recycle them
No Thrills in Ontario puts out boxes for people to use but it's a struggle to find anything are actually usable for your shopping (so they either sell you the bags or you bring you own).
Though I admit that's one thing I hate with the re-useables that was the same with plastics - I like big handles to I can put them over my shoulder so the wait isn't on the arms/hands but more of them have short loops/hoops.
I remember a cashier who would throw away things of plastic bags if the tab to hang int on the thing broke. I'd pluck them out of hte garbage and look at her like she was an idiot.
I use the plastic bags but take them back to the store to be recycled. I went to an Albertson's grocery store the other day and noticed a small sign that was on the benches outside. The benches had been made from recycled plastic bags.
Yeah, I went to Zehr's over the last weekend and found out afterwards that I was being charged a dime for a bag. Hosers. I've got 15 fabric bags from Meijer's in my car, but I was with someone else......
Plus Zehr's fabric bags seemed really.....small? Especially compared to the one's I bought in the States.
Plus Zehr's fabric bags seemed really.....small? Especially compared to the one's I bought in the States.
There has been a recommendation that if you live near the coast, you should use paper bags..inland, one should use plastic..
many modern plastic shopping bags degrade in sunlight and break apart over a period of weeks.
http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/18562/
but they can enter the marine environment (where they can last longer) and cause death to seabirds and other aquatic life..
Paper bags degrade rapidly in water, therefore the recommendation..however, they do create much more waste in manufacturing.
many modern plastic shopping bags degrade in sunlight and break apart over a period of weeks.
http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/18562/
but they can enter the marine environment (where they can last longer) and cause death to seabirds and other aquatic life..
Paper bags degrade rapidly in water, therefore the recommendation..however, they do create much more waste in manufacturing.
You do know that you can use those anywhere, yes? It's not just for Trader Joe's.
Anyway, they have been talking about imposing a 5 cent charge per for plastic bags here, which I am ok with. The only sort of place where I can see that really becoming an issue is someplace like Target, where you might be buying a lot of big stuff and it's difficult to have enough bags with you without bringing a suitcase full of them. I do have some big Ikea bags that I use in places like that, but filling them gets really too heavy for walking several blocks from the car and trudging up three flights of stairs. With the smaller bags, you can do it in trips without having to dump everything out in the hallway. I'd get used to it if they banned them or imposed fees though, no problem.
For regular everyday shopping, I carry a nice big shopping bag that folds up into a little 2"x4" pouch and fits right in my regular bag. Like this. It caries a lot and the handles are big enough that I can comfortably carry on my shoulder. Backpacks are good for shopping trips as well...
My wife bought some of the re usable bags at the grocery store recently. 10 of them for $1 each. The next time she went grocery shopping, she got a 10 cent/ reusable bag used credit. We'll recover our cost pretty quickly and we still have enough plastic bags in the house if we need one.
I actually think this is a bad idea. There are applications (i.e. temperature extremes or certain types of light dimmers using pulse width modulation) in which an incandescent bulb will work but a fluorescent will not. Plus, there needs to be infrastructure for recycling the fluorescents once they eventually do burn out.
As for the bags, I still take the plastic shopping bags. Most are #2 plastic, so they can be recycled with all my other plastic items. In fact, the supermarket conveniently makes their shopping bags blue, so I just double bag my recycling in them and drop the whole thing off in the nearest bin. I notice that Target uses #4 plastic in its bags which is not recyclable where I live; those bags wind up lining my garbage can. I don't think I've ever bought garbage can liners for indoor use because of this.
I live in Victoria BC and the 'Real Canadian Super Store' only uses those, they stopped selling the plastic ones (5¢ ea)just over a year ago. Some other stores (Thrifty's, Western Foods, & Fairway Market, etc.)are using both.
But when I go shopping for groceries I keep for getting to take them
but when I do remember I leave them in the trunk of the car.
The also work as great trash bags for the car.
and a place to put dirty gonch/ smell socks etc. in you suit case when you travel.
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^ "Gonch"? 
I like to tell myself that I use cloth bags because I love the environment. But the truth is, plastic bags are so thin and fragile now that you have to double-bag them to carry a can of corn. So I'd end up with 20 plastic bags, each containing 1-2 items, at the end of a shopping trip. What a pain. I finally twigged onto the fact that a store cannot make me use its plastic bags - after all, it's just advertising for them, and I'm not getting paid. So no matter what store I go into (grocery store, Target), I bring my cloth bags and put them on the conveyor belt first. If the clerk doesn't catch on, I ask politely. If s/he still uses the store plastic bag, I unload them, bag the items myself, and hand the plastic bag back. I also use them at bag-it-yourself stores like Costco and Sav-a-Lot.
It was easy enough to accumulate enough for a week's shopping. I bought 5 at a time at $1 each. The plastic bags I do have I reuse to carry meat or household cleaners home from the store, or to line my trash.
It was easy enough to accumulate enough for a week's shopping. I bought 5 at a time at $1 each. The plastic bags I do have I reuse to carry meat or household cleaners home from the store, or to line my trash.
Wow - I didn't think this would stir up the response. I guess it just shows how new an idea it is all around the world. It looks like Austrailia is the only place to out and out ban them.
I still wonder if it's an overreaction - After all, think about all the packaging we throw out in different ways. I just threw out a couple bread bags and all the plastic from DVD's, computer games, etc. Think of all the waste from fast food places. I pack my daughter's lunches and there's so much packaging right there and only the juice boxes are able to be recycled.
We do recycle more here than where I grew up (in Pennsylvania). I know the recycling is so unreliable and picky where my Mom lives (in PA) that most people just don't do it and throw everything out in the garbage.
In BC, no pizza boxes or plastic bags, but most other things get recycled here. There's been talk about the light bulbs, but there's no proper disposal for flourescents, so I doubt if that will happen any time soon.
I just wonder if the manufacturers are under any pressure to come up with better, more biodegradable packaging. Right now, it seems these bans are so little compared to the more global environmental issues.
I still wonder if it's an overreaction - After all, think about all the packaging we throw out in different ways. I just threw out a couple bread bags and all the plastic from DVD's, computer games, etc. Think of all the waste from fast food places. I pack my daughter's lunches and there's so much packaging right there and only the juice boxes are able to be recycled.
We do recycle more here than where I grew up (in Pennsylvania). I know the recycling is so unreliable and picky where my Mom lives (in PA) that most people just don't do it and throw everything out in the garbage.
In BC, no pizza boxes or plastic bags, but most other things get recycled here. There's been talk about the light bulbs, but there's no proper disposal for flourescents, so I doubt if that will happen any time soon.
I just wonder if the manufacturers are under any pressure to come up with better, more biodegradable packaging. Right now, it seems these bans are so little compared to the more global environmental issues.
Correction South Australia is the only place to ban them outright.
Then again S.A was the first state to introduce container recycling legislation. So rather than just toss you drink can or bottle in the bin you collect them up and take them to the recycle centre and got 5c per bottle or can (now 10c). You even got money on cardboard milk containers.
Of course this was a boon for organizations such as the Scout Association who would hold bottle drives where they'd go around the neighborhood collecting bottles.
They also jumped into recycling in a big way very early on. My then local council started it's recyle collection in the late 80s early 90s and it's grown steadily from there.
Talking about packaging and kids lunches, my son is starting school in September and the school has a rule that you must bring home everything you take to school. Nothing gets thrown out at school.
So any containers or packaging that food is in gets sent back home. The goal is to make people aware of the level of garbage and get them to use reusable containers and avoid pre-packaged food.
So any containers or packaging that food is in gets sent back home. The goal is to make people aware of the level of garbage and get them to use reusable containers and avoid pre-packaged food.
See...that's just silliness. The way things work is I can't avoid pre-packaged food. Most people are so busy and most kids are so picky - you're just happy they're eathing SOMETHING. Most people will just throw out the garbage and continue what they're doing.
Interesting. Of course, this would just add to the things that disappear in the great black hole that exists between my son's school and our front door. I can see it now:
Son, where's your homework? [shrug] The ten pencils I gave you this morning? [shrug] Your permission slip for the field trip? Your report card?? The sandwich wrappers??? [blank stare]
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