More Governments Aim to Ban Plastic Bags

American Legislator ^ | 2-6-14 | John Eick

[ThethoughtsofGreg]

Think you’re green? Not unless you ban or tax the common plastic bag that consumers use every day to carry their groceries, among other things.

From California to Rhode Island, municipalities are considering – or have enacted – plastic bag bans or fees on consumers at the register when making a purchase.

Reasons given for such restrictions to consumer choice are plenty, but the most common is that plastic bags are not recyclable (patently false), they take an excessive amount of natural resources and energy to manufacture (not true compared to alternatives) and they are the main culprit contributing to litter (another misconception).

[Gaffer]

As a byproduct of the oil process, I’d think that efficient use of leftover bits would be commended. So, they are purported to just sit around in landfills and not decompose. How is that different from their parent, oil?

[gitmo]

The greens are the ones that pushed for plastic bags in the first place. To save the trees.

[Louis Foxwell]

Plastic bags are the cheapest, most recyclable, least environmentally damaging container available. As with DDT anything truly beneficial must be demonized.

[Fiji Hill]

The ten-cent bag tax will be another cash cow for the politicians. Watch for it to go up, and up, and up, as do bridge tolls.

[SampleMan]

First they came for the plast bags, and I said nothing.

Then they came for the paper bags, and I said nothing.

Then I carried my crap home in a moldy canvas bag, too small to put more than 5 items in.

[Scrambler Bob]

How about requiring welfare folks to spend a few hours picking up these errant bags?

PS Calif wants all food handlers to wear gloves. And change frequently. Where will all these gloves end up? Where the bags used to accumulate?

[forgotten man]

This is good news for shoplifters. They can bring their own bags with false bottoms. More shoplifting means fewer retail stores. The retail industry is already on its back without this stupid gubmint intervention into the marketplace.

[Sacajaweau]

Yup.....

[molson209]

the rest of the world will use what they don’t

[Revolting cat!]

It turns out, Mr Graduate, that the future is not in plastics!

[KGeorge]

It was their stupid idea. Bring back paper for dry goods, plastic for meats, frozen, etc only. Or better yet- boxes.
Why do they always go from one extreme to another?

Cloth bags could be a pandemic looking for a place to happen.

[lee martell]

Even thirty years or so after seeing that movie in the theatre, I cringe at that particlar scene of Marathon Man. I don’t recall anything else about the movie but that scene.

[heylady]

“better yet- boxes”

You just jogged my memory. As a child I remember going to Central Market in Olneyville, RI. The stock people would put the boxes from the produce they had just put on the shelve under the shelves. You would just select a box from under the shelf and go to the register where they would pack your groceries in a nice box for you to take home. I wonder what Kroger would say if I brought in an amazon box for them to put my groceries into.

[tomkat]

Such distressing news .. might have to go out back and throw an old tire on the burn pile to console myself !

[Lizavetta]

Translation: The paper bag manufacturers are bigger donors than the plastic bag manufacturers.

That's how the system works these days. It ain't about litter or dead birds eating plastic bags or the environment or moon spots.

Follow the money.

[wally_bert]

I have tried telling the spousal unit for years that the fabric bags have drawbacks to no end. It seems that I find one or two more around home collecting dust with all the others.

I get the recycling everything lecture since I really don’t like being an unpaid trash sorter. I will toss stuff in trash or a bin since I don’t like stuff piling up.

[S.O.S121.500]

Had Enough Yet ?............................

[bkopto]

Here's a solution: buy a whole bunch of plastic bags (4 cents each) at Amazon and keep them in your car. Bring 'em in the supermarket for your own use:

http://www.amazon.com/Garvey-063036-Thank-Printed-Plastic/dp/B0017D3RIQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1391729548&sr=8-1&keywords=plastic+shopping+bags

[Exeter]

When someone comes up with a paper bag as sturdy & lightweight as a plastic one w/handles on it, fine. But for people who use a cane, walker, or have arthritis, the plastic ones are irreplaceable. And they can be used as trashcan liners, packing small objects, sorting clothes for wash (whites, colors), etc. They don’t just get thrown away in my house...