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Posted on 07/01/2012 9:06:12 AM PDT by matt1234
As Seattle's ban on plastic grocery bags goes into effect on Sunday July 1, some shoppers may not realize that they need to wash their reusable grocery bags or risk contamination with harmful bacteria.
"I'm very careful about what I put in the bag, but I'm not good about washing the bag," says one Seattle shopper.
That could be a problem for that Seattle shopper, as she and more than half a million others transition to using only reusable bags for their regular trips to the grocery store.
A 2010 outbreak of norovirus in a group of young soccer players visiting Seattle was just recently linked to a reusable grocery bag. According to a study published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases in May, the bag had apparently been set down in a restroom where another girl was getting sick. Later, the group ate Girl Scout Cookies that had been held inside the bag.
Epidemiologist Kimberly Repp told KING-5 News in an interview that it's a good reminder about proper cleaning.
"When cleaning an area where someone has become ill, to not just think about cleaning the toilet but all the surfaces that could possibly transport to another area. So, the toothbrush, the hairbrush, anything that has been stored in the bathroom should be cleaned," says Repp.
Norovirus causes about 21 million illnesses, 70 thousand hospitalizations and 800 deaths a year in the United States, according to the study.
As for those reusable bags, a 2010 study by the University of Arizona found more than half of the bags investigated had some sort of bacteria. E.coli was found in 12% of the bags.
Experts say they are not trying to unnecessarily scare the public. They simply want to get people to use proper care to keep reusable bags clean.
Throwing them in the washing machine after each use should do the trick. If they're made of plastic, wash them with dish soap or at least a disinfecting wipe.
Seattle is not the only local city making the switch. The City of Bainbridge has enacted a ban that will take effect November 1. Issaquah has a plastic bag ban set to take effect in March of next year if an effort to repeal it fails.
ewwww -- who sets anything down on any surface in a public restroom? I even tear off a towel to use the door handle. And our weightlifting class for women calls squats the "New Jersey Turnpike Ladies Room position."
The law of unintended consequences strikes again. Solve one problem and create another that was never considered. This one sounds like the cure is worse than the affliction.
I’m throwing my bags into the laundry with the towels in just a few minutes! I do like using the cloth bags. The plastic ones at the grocery store are so thin and rip so easily. There is nothing more fun than toting an almost four-year-old, a ten-month-old in a clunky car seat, and a bag of groceries when that bag tears half way to the truck! The plastic bag ban though is just pure hog wash.
I do not support plastic bag bands but, this is not a reason not to use reusable bags. I wash my socks and underwear every time I use them and this has not not caused me great harm. I can see where the lefties might have a problem because the poor who not not have a washer or dryer in there who would be hurt them most. But that is there problem. Poor vs environment. Who will the lefties choose. Maybe the store could provide free plastic liners to put in the reusable bags. They haven’t banned liners just bags.
These bags are made in China. Do you think that they’re really made from pristine cotton...or perhaps dead animal hair? Buyer beware. Check out these two distributors of the bags...
Cotton Cloth Bag - 2
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Cotton Cloth Bag - 2 [Jun 29, 2012]
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Cangnan Ruiding Bag Manufacturer Co., Ltd. [Province:Zhejiang, China]
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Canvas Cotton Shopping Bag
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Canvas Cotton Shopping Bag [Jun 29, 2012]
Canvas shopping bag/cotton bags/cloth shopping bag 1)Material: Cotton/Canvas 2)Color: Various colors for...7)Application: Suitable for advertisement, gift bag, grocery store, surpermarket and so on
Cangnan Yihui Luggage Co., Ltd. [Province:Zhejiang, China]
I needed a new tool and my Internet search for what I wanted at the price I wanted led me to an store in Seattle. So I armed up and braved the venture into loonytown.
When I completed the purchase and turned to leave I thought better about carrying this particular tool out onto the street and asked for a bag. The owner got this look of semi-distress and fumbled around under the counter. Finally she straightened up and announced with a smile, “This is the last one!”
She then reminded me of the bag ban and how it would start the next morning. I asked her how she planned to meet the needs tomorrow and she furled her brow and said (and I quote): “Oh, I don’t know, maybe they can sneak it out under their coats”.
Friggin sheep!
So how is it saving the planet if you must use more fresh water and more electricty plus the price of using more soap to wash the darn things? Does it cost more to make and use the plastic bags than it does for everyone to use resources to wash reusables at home?
>>>The law of unintended consequences strikes again. Solve one problem and create another that was never considered. This one sounds like the cure is worse than the affliction.>>>
YEP!
The problem with THAT position is that women tend to spray the toilet seat, then not clean up after themselves. DISGUSTING! I've been threatening to make stickers, and place them in every public bathroom in which I find this phenomenon. They would read,
"If you sprinkle when you tinkle,
please be neat and wipe the seat!".
American society regresses.
Yes, my impression of Seattle libs (after 20 yrs. in the area) is braindead conformists. Ironically, most of them consider themselves nonconformists. However, the vast majority nonconform in exactly the same ways.
But we all know the things that happen to sheep, and none of them are good for the sheep.
Liberals - making you poorer, sicker, and less free, one law at a time.
Fortunately I have an even happier alternative - I won’t patronize stores in communities where I am subjected to mind-numbing stupidity.
I have never understood why parents bring toddlers and young children with them to supermarkets, etc.
Plastic grocery bags → kill the environment
Reusable grocery bags → kill us
Damn nannystatism!!
You do realize that the Left wants to eliminate supermarkets and other “big box” stores altogether. This is just another beating being afflicted upon American capitalism.
Needless to say this threw the Seattle and Olympia teachers completely out of sync. No one questions their stupid commie deliveries and actively challenges it in public and on paper. I did and always WON :-D. Not hard to do. Facts and figures nearly argue themselves.
Confused them too as I was so young, female, and beautiful. The ugly women dyke monsters (which of course there are loads of in Seattle/Olympia were thrown and the men well . . . had to admit defeat. Student becomes the MASTER. haha.
Ok, I worked in the grocery industry for 4 years up until a month ago. Let me share a little something with all you cloth bag lovers....WE HATE YOU! WE HATE YOUR BAGS! These things are filth! Let me lay it out for you...
1. Usually they smell like smoke, your dog, mildew, you name it.
2. Most times the are covered in animal hair, dirt, grime from your trunk and any number of other “juices” from the crap you bought before and toted home in them.
3. The checker and/or courtesy clerk has to touch your filth then touch other people’s groceries.
4. Some people who pack your crap have allergic reactions to the stuff they have to touch while you go on blissfully ignorant to the discomfort you’ve caused.
5. They are much more difficult to pack than the plastic bags provided to you by your local grocer. The sides constantly flop in. People become extremely picky about what goes with what and how heavy they are, etc. AND it makes everyone else behind you wait longer while the checker/courtesy clerk struggles with your stupid bags Captain You Planets!
6. You are not saving the environment as plastic and paper are recyclable.
7. If you still insist on using these God forsaken pieces of crap, at least have the decency to wash them!
I actually got blood, yes dried blood from one of these under a nail and it grossed me out for the rest of the day.
They suck and you suck if you use them.
/rant over. Have a nice day :)
Why don’t you tell us how you REALLY feel? :)
Those cloth bags disgust me and their owners disgust me more.
Good intentions must surely pave the way to hell and political correctness is the guiding guardrail !
Haha, I’ve had that pent up for 4 years. I worked at Customer Service but part of my responsibilities was to help on the front end in busy times so that meant sacking groceries. Whenever someone with those cloth bags came to a line I was at, I made every effort to leave for another line. That’s how much we all hate those things. We may smile and be nice to you but on the inside we’re SCREAMING at you.
They can't ALL be blowhard idiot morons, can they?
/sarc (as if I had to say)
Because leaving them home alone is generally frowned upon.
Thank you for that informative post.
I didn’t mind taking the kids to the store its the spouse who throws a fit and trys to put junk food in the cart.
That’s the whole point of the squats. You get strong enough to get within an inch of the seat, hold the position, pee lustily and not get any on yourself or the seat.
Their so-called "progress" is always reactionary embrace of the past, or attempts to hold nature still instead of letting it continue to develop. The best way out of current problems is to allow markets to develop affordable solutions. But they know that. Their Dear Leaders' methods are to use the environmental language merely to line the pockets of the elite Democrat donors.
Plant more trees and every one of those is fixed.
The greenies already forced a change in the soap you use, ineffective for cleaning stains compared to the old style soaps. Add phosphate. Coming soon: legislation to force homeowners to install waste-treatment devices between your home and sewer connections. Shifting the burden to you.
Yes we already buy TSP and add it to our laundry and dishwasher plus we have our own well and septic system.
Ok, so children are like some kind of luggage ? Why isn’t there anyone to watch them at home?
That's COOL. All this time I thought the only way to pee lustily was to stand up. ;-)
I know things are a bit crazy in this obama daze, but my husband would be at work if I was taking the kids with me. I don’t mind at all except for those cheap-ass plastic bags. Plus, and you apparently don’t grasp this concept, I actually enjoy my children’s company.
If you want made-in-USA cloth bags, go here:
http://clothbag.com/The_Cloth_Bag_Co./Home.html
I know the owner, he’s real, and his sewing operation is here in GA.
Thanks for the tip...does your friend have any bags that are named Michelle? I’d buy one for sure!
“Coming soon: legislation to force homeowners to install waste-treatment devices between your home and sewer connections.”
Any links on this. It doesn’t surprise me a bit, but I haven’t heard about it, and try to keep track of these (never-ending) threats.
In our state one can ask for paper or plastic or do the leftist thing and bring your own.
In the old days I used to bring my own and there were wonderful washable bags that I used.
Now I ask for paper, because two shopping bags give me the perfect firestarter. I collect bags all year. Everything in the store goes into a bag. Milk, everything.
LOL!! Women can should do it, too!
It’s not unintended. And the law didn’t come from Bainbridge either. It came from ICLEI which has been outed in the Rio + 20 conference as MARXISTS.
The bag ‘ban’ is nothing but another Marxist control on citizens and business. All the seemingly inconsequential ordinances and laws add up to one big agenda, and it’s global communism.
Read some of the threads about ICLEI, Agenda 21 and the Rio conference. These groups have been spelling out communism for years, they get funded by international NGOs to corrupt American public officials to force Marxism on their constituents. Many government officials belong to ICLEI, but the ICLEI plans and techniques for subverting our Constitution are not shown to the public, only ‘members’ e.g. our public officials get to see them.
Now that you are informed, you understand the problem isn’t cloth bags, but Marxist public officials.
What about paper bags? Trees are a renewable resource...
Cool! Now if someone could just find a way to sell full flush toilets again and dishwashers and washing machines that used enough water to get things clean....
No, I was being facetious, not to be taken literally.
But it wouldn't surprise me if it happens, what with the government intrusions in my locale for take-out containers (that are now inefficient since foam was banned and bio-degradable containers were substitute). Hands get burnt, food leaks out, and the costs were passed on to the consumer. Add to that the fighting going on over plastic and paper bags at the grocery store. Here, they have garbage nazis snooping in garbage to fine people for trashing the wrong stuff.
Parents bring young children to the store, take them to a poorly maintained restroom with "fluids" all over the floor, and then let the children stand in the shopping cart. The same cart where the next shopper will place their groceries.
Some stores now have a mini cart, too small for a child to sit or stand in. I prefer to shop there.
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