Why are NYers so spoiled?!

sourstix

Thu, Feb 09 2017, 7:16 pm

This discussion is useless. Both sides have valid points. And no one wants to say I hear what your saying. Everyone wants to be right. I get the New Yorkers problem with the tax and the reason they are resentful and that it's useless to put a tax not to mention downright disgusting. And I also understand why it's it's very harmful to the environment and that example with the bottles is a good one, I have no answer for that. Just shows that the tax is there to squeeze as much as they can out of us.

But plastic is still very unhealthy for the environment. Period. What we should is not so simple.

Op your title is not very nice. Kindly change it to be more respectful if you want a respectful conversation and response

studying_torah

Thu, Feb 09 2017, 7:22 pm

I forgot peeling veggies, garbage cans of course, stray socks until I can pair them and on and on.
Yes plastic is awful for the environment, but I'm not having m6 kid puke in a reusable bag 😣

ectomorph

Thu, Feb 09 2017, 7:25 pm

sourstix wrote:

good point. I agree with you.

amother

Ruby

Thu, Feb 09 2017, 8:41 pm

I have a bag ban where I live-LA. I walk a ton but I do drive too. I bought a few reusable bags, have some in my car and always take one or two if I go out thinking it will only be for one item as we all know it rarely is just one item Very Happy

.
I hate the bag ban. Despise it- but I have found ways around it. I use vegetable bags for diapers in public, for peeling into etc. I buy a few plastic bags for when I buy chicken etc that leak. Or reuse the ones DH buys as he rarely brings enough from home. It's not impossible.
We are In a drought and while this rainy winter has helped, why should we be wasting water? It's super expensive and many don't wash their bags often enough because of it....

amother

Hotpink

Thu, Feb 09 2017, 8:42 pm

I'm in Toronto. We had the 5c fee for awhile - but with a change of Mayor - it was dropped. The money didn't go to the gov't (as I understand it is proposed to in NYC), it went to the shops who had to use it for a charitable cause.

It 'worked' for me. I became more aware of using plastic, and made some efforts to bring canvas bags with me. If I forgot, sometimes I'd pay per plastic bag or sometimes I'd buy few new canvas bags. All the grocery stores sold them.

We've become conditioned to the fact that plastic bags our rightfully ours as giveaway from stores. In truth - we never had a right to free grocery bags - we just lucked out that its a normative practice for stores to give them away.

As far as I can tell - the NYC bill is not to ban plastic bags all together (they tried that in Toronto - it didn't pass). You still want plastic for your kid to puke in.. or what ever you need plastic for. No problem. Buy a few bags. 5c from your grocery (or.... buy a whole box at Costco!)

gp2.0

Thu, Feb 09 2017, 9:13 pm

The problem is that the 5 cent fee doesn't accomplish anything. People will still take bags and just accept the fee as another tax. The overall amount of plastic bag usage won't go down. The money won't be used for purposes of improving the environment. So what's the point? It's not helping the environment at all. It's just annoying.

notshanarishona

Thu, Feb 09 2017, 9:34 pm

We complain about it in other cities too. It's rediculous this nickel and diming and it's not reasonable unless they have cheaper junkier bags available for free. IT has nothing to do with being spoiled. When you buy an item it should be understand that the store has to give you a way to carry it.

MagentaYenta

Thu, Feb 09 2017, 9:38 pm

notshanarishona wrote:

Not paying for paper bags at stores was something that changed in the mid '50s here in the US. It was the advent of 'supermarkets' prior to that mom and pop stores would charge a penny or two for a paper bag. At that time most Americans were using reusable bags and shopping more frequently.

ra_mom

Thu, Feb 09 2017, 9:44 pm

It's not such a big deal for those who want to continue using this convenience. It will add $1 to a very large order, enough groceries to the last the week. I'm not fighting it and think it's silly for our representatives to waste their time and energy on this when we have bigger things to worry about.
But I don't see the point as the money doesn't go toward helping the environment.

octopus

Thu, Feb 09 2017, 9:46 pm

MagentaYenta wrote:

at least the money was going to the business, not to big government.

MagentaYenta

Thu, Feb 09 2017, 10:07 pm

octopus wrote:

at least the money was going to the business, not to big government.

In my town the money spent on a bag goes to the store as a reimbursement on cost. FWIW our bag ban was something that voters in the our city chose.

amother

Mustard

Thu, Feb 09 2017, 10:23 pm

bsy wrote:

We already have a high sales tax. Why add more? Most of us need those bags....reusable ones don't do what I need the plastic ones for.

The city of Chicago just implemented $.07 tax for bags and our sales tax is way higher than NY.
Where does it end?!

amother

Slategray

Thu, Feb 09 2017, 10:35 pm

5 cents a bag is cheaper per bag than buying regular garbage bags. I make an effort to bring home as many bags as I can legitimately buy because I need them for my garbage.
If I use cloth bags I would have to buy garbage bags. Cheaper and easier to just pay for grocery bags.

oliveoil

Thu, Feb 09 2017, 11:02 pm

amother wrote:

but garbage bags and shopping bags are not the same size, so it doesn't make sense to compare 1 for 1.

amother

Slategray

Thu, Feb 09 2017, 11:41 pm

For my bathroom garbage and small trash cans around the house. I didn't mean kitchen garbage.
And yes I did look into buying small garbage bags and they were about 9 cents each.

Besides for garbage I also use bags for things like peeling veggies etc that were mentioned upthread. So yes I go though all the bags I bring home from my grocery shopping each week.

miami85

Fri, Feb 10 2017, 6:37 am

I wouldn't mind the charge if a)once I'm paying for the bag--make it a decent shopping bag, not the flimsy plastic b)some stores were responsible with how they pack groceries and not putting like 1-2 items when you could easily fit 3-6 c)if just like you can return soda bottles and cans for a refund, you could get your "Deposit" back--it would encourage "responsible" disposal of the plastic bags.

I also use the plastic bags for a variety of things, but yes it does become way too many. My husband was hoarding them the last time the law passed, but we got rid of a lot when it was rescinded.

octopus

Fri, Feb 10 2017, 8:10 am

miami85 wrote:

I love it when they pack the bags light! If you are carrying the bags out, it is much easier to redistribute the weight while walking. I hate when they load up a bag and it weighs ten million lbs.

sky

Fri, Feb 10 2017, 11:32 am

oliveoil wrote:

but garbage bags and shopping bags are not the same size, so it doesn't make sense to compare 1 for 1.

I have 7 small garbage cans I line once to twice weekly in my house with shopping bags from the grocery store: 3 bathroom, study, master bedroom, DH car and guest bedroom. I use at least 10 bags a week for this purpose alone.
I only buy garbage bags for my kitchen.