Bag Ban - again | Imamother

abmom

Mon, Oct 19 2020, 11:22 am

My grocery will now sell a 10 pack of shopping bags. So if I run in for a few items and will manage with one shopping bag, I now get 10 shopping bags to ruin the environment with!!

Ps. My shopping bags usually aren't single use. I reuse them to carry stuff on the street, for dirty diapers, I peel veggies on used bags, etc... So this bag ban will end up being a real waste of money, and will do little for the environment.

And please don't say other countries are doing it for years. For us this is new, and while it's not life threatening it's a big deal right now. Maybe in a year we won't care anymore, but right now we do.

kenz

Mon, Oct 19 2020, 11:37 am

yksraya wrote:

K, so now no bags either... I can already see all those spilled groceries on just about every parking lot. I sometimes buy the reusables to avoid such incidents, but then would forget to take them along with me next time, so need to buy new ones again.

This. I have several resuable bags or totes I can use, but I never have them with me when I actually need them... Even if I would remember to take them with me (I try to keep some in the bottom of the stroller so at least I have when I am out with the stroller), so often you just run in somewhere you didn't plan on...

kenz

Mon, Oct 19 2020, 11:37 am

abmom wrote:

Same here - any plastic bags I get from shopping go through at least 1 more use, and usually several more.

amother

Maroon

Mon, Oct 19 2020, 4:06 pm

OMG the bag ban makes me sooo crazy.
The reusable bags have a carbon footprint that's orders of magnitude larger than thin, flimsy single use plastic bags. Most people reuse the bags at least once, and will now have to buy trash bags, storage bags, etc. There have been studies on this. It's really not proven to reduce waste overall.

I miss Israel where I can buy bags as needed! Every shopping bag in our house gets used and reused. I tried ordering trash bags on Amazon, and they were lavender scented and gross. So I've already created more waste than I saved this year.

Teomima

Tue, Oct 20 2020, 12:30 am

amother [ Maroon ] wrote:

OMG the bag ban makes me sooo crazy.
The reusable bags have a carbon footprint that's orders of magnitude larger than thin, flimsy single use plastic bags. Most people reuse the bags at least once, and will now have to buy trash bags, storage bags, etc. There have been studies on this. It's really not proven to reduce waste overall.

I miss Israel where I can buy bags as needed! Every shopping bag in our house gets used and reused. I tried ordering trash bags on amazon, and they were lavender scented and gross. So I've already created more waste than I saved this year.

Or, you learn to do without! Since they stopped providing free bags here, I just stopped using them at home, too. With the exception of kitchen trash bags (which I always bought because my kitchen garbage is much larger than a grocery bag), and Ziploc bags (which again I always bought, and I wash and reuse), I don't buy extra bags. I peel my veggies onto a flexible cutting board and use that to dump everything into the garbage or compost. For bathroom wastepaper baskets I use the smaller produce bags you end up with anyways. I don't individually wrap diapers. I have no idea what people are doing with all their plastic bags because I just don't use them anymore.

As for the carbon footprint (of reusable bags) argument, or people concerned about how sanitary they are, I mostly use cotton reusable bags. No bigger of a carbon footprint than the shirt on my back, and easy to toss in the wash.