New Yorkers: What do you think of the plastic bag tax?

cnc

Tue, May 10 2016, 5:59 pm

Amarante wrote:

I am not understanding why plastic bags form a store make it easier to shlep large quantities of groceries.

It's very easy to carry one or even two bags in your purse for spontaneous purchases. And for planned shopping trips when one is buying a lot, you just Bing your recyclable bags. These are actually easier to carry than plastic bags and they hold items better. Mine even go over my shoulder in a pinch.

And these laws do change behavior as almost no one buys disposable bags anymore but bring their own whereas before the law was passed the only people who did it were committed ecology people.

There are lots of laws that are intended to protect the environment and prevent people from leaving it a worse place than they found it. Most places have mandatory sorting of items for trash with three containers required for pickup.

And the benefit to the environment is outweighed by the slight adjustment. As for delivery vans versus plastic bags, I would imagine that the driver makes multiple deliveries on one trip. I would also assume that distance is not that great as it's hard to believe that many people are regularly shlepping home 20 bags from a store that is a far distance from home.

I can easily be taking at least 20 bags in one shopping trip.
In fact when choosing a stroller, one important factor for me is the basket size and if it can hold many bags. I also have multiple Mommy Hooks to hang bags from.

seeker

Tue, May 10 2016, 6:28 pm

I think people saying plastic makes it easier for large shopping trips mean that it would take a lot of reusable bags, which would then be a hassle to store and take back and forth.

Delivery isn't really an option for me most of the time. I do drive, though. Locally I use a shopping wagon and place disposable bags in it, for that reusable bags would work fine but it would still be a hassle to store them when I get home. I suppose the compact ones that fold into themselves would be better (as of now most of my reusable bags are the kind they sell at Trader Joes and other stores, which are stiffer), but I'd still need, say, a basket of them in the front closet which in a tiny apartment (remember, this law is made for NYC. Tiny apartments are pretty standard) is already crammed with more than it can neatly hold.

And I'm a person who tends to travel light. If I can get away with my keys and some money in my sweatshirt pocket, I don't take a handbag. If I decide to drop in somewhere and happen to find something to buy, I can handle the 5c but the environment will be the same. I guess the increased use of reusables for planned shopping trips might accomplish SOMETHING, I just don't get the whole to-do.

Lani22 when a person pays with food stamps it's safe to assume that their financial situation is such that the nickels add up and are meaningful to them. Another reason why a different form of outreach would be more appropriate in terms of overall ecological gain; this way a large portion of the population isn't even paying attention because they're like "OK I don't need to worry about this at all." Giving away more free reusable foldable bags would be more helpful, combined with informational advertising. I bet people on food stamps can't buy a whole stash of shticky pocketable antimicrobial won't-rip-in-10-seconds reusable bags either, or keep it in their car which they don't have so they automatically have them available when driving to the shops.

Amarante

Tue, May 10 2016, 7:36 pm

The recyclable bags hold much more than a plastic bag.

Before they changed the law, I would generally opt for paper or paper with plastic but sometimes the stores would only have plastic. When that happened, I would have so many more plastic bags for that order because they just don't hold as much. Square items, cans or bottles can't be stacked. Soft items get squished so they need separate bags.

With a reusable bag, items can be neatly arranged with heavy it's on the bottom and more fragile items on the top. So it's a much more efficient use of space since items stay in place when they are carried. You can have cans, bread, milk and bananas for example in one bag.

The bags fold neatly and thinly so can be stored in a small amount of space as they would just slide into anyplace.

I think people are just thinking the worst. It's an adjustment but you will find its not a big deal and in some ways better. I also used bags for garbage and didn't toss but I would be eventually overrun with bags which took up way more space than the amount you will need to shlep the same amount of groceries as twenty plastic bags hold.