Comments on: No More Plastic Bags!

By: hln

hln — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:43:49 +0000

Plastic bags are great for cat litter or wrapping around covered casseroles for freezing.

But never both.

By: Janis Gore

Janis Gore — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 16:24:35 +0000

What do storekeepers think about canvas bags? Do they up the risk of shoplifting? I like Mr. Schuler's use of mesh bags, but are they woven fine enough to carry, say, a small can of Tone's seasoning (about half an ounce)? Keeping them in the car would be the only way we could make a transition. The hardest thing I see about getting away from plastic bags is multiple stops. Today I'd like a pound of white cheddar cheese and a box of cracked wheat crackers from Walmart, chicken thighs from the local market, and a stop by Family Dollar for those cheap and not-so-salty tortilla chips. Three stops, three bags, and some days it's worse.

By: Maggie Mama

Maggie Mama — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 11:40:45 +0000

Ditto: less trips from truck to house and sturdier than the plastic.

I've been using them for 5 or 6 months ... my only problem is remembering to bring them into the store with me!

By: DL

DL — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 19:35:59 +0000

The New York Times against plastic bags. Though it isn't the Times, our papers get delivered inside plastic bags when it's at all at risk for dampness.

Does that mean the NYT doesn't get delivered or do they deliver it wet?

By: M1EK

M1EK — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:11:06 +0000

Paper bags are a litter problem, not a landfill problem, although it is kind of stupid to waste a valuable resource like oil on something as stupid as a bag.

By: Dave Schuler

Dave Schuler — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:07:47 +0000

I've used mesh bags since I lived in Europe quite some time ago. They were a commonplace there and I just keep 'em in the glove box.

By: Davebo

Davebo — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:03:13 +0000

sn't it interesting that the Times didn't succumb to the screams about the dead trees being used for paper?

I think that's because James is incorrect as to why paper bags went away.

Originally when the plastic was introduced customers were asked whether they wanted paper or plastic bags. Consumers preferred plastic bags by a wide margin and paper bags were eliminated due to a lack of demand.

By: Mike54

Mike54 — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:59:02 +0000

If we were running out of landfill space (AND WE ARE NOT) plastic bags would not be the problem. They probably consume 0.0000001% of total landfill space. Eliminating plastic bags is just another "feel good" effort that people with no analytical skills cling to as part of their environmental religion.

By: Snoop Diggity-DANG-Dawg

Snoop Diggity-DANG-Dawg — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:01:13 +0000

I reuse my plastic bags as underwear liners. They're nice & thin, so there's no embarrassing 'panty lines', and now I can crap in my pants without staining them, saving hundreds in dry cleaning!

By: Bithead

Bithead — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:19:51 +0000

isn't it interesting that the Times didn't succumb to the screams about the dead trees being used for paper?

By: JKB

JKB — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:46:21 +0000

This like most of the "environmentalist" hysteria may turn out to be much to do about nothing. Seems while the "scientists" were running about in a panic over people using plastic bags, a 16 yr old boy in Canada has isolated the microbes the digest them.

http://news.therecord.com/article/354201

Now a Waterloo teenager has found a way to make plastic bags degrade faster -- in three months, he figures.

Daniel Burd's project won the top prize at the Canada-Wide Science Fair in Ottawa. He came back with a long list of awards, including a $10,000 prize, a $20,000 scholarship, and recognition that he has found a practical way to help the environment.

Burd, 16, a Grade 11 student at Waterloo Collegiate Institute, got the idea for his project from everyday life.

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:12:17 +0000

India is also having a problem with plastic bags, evidently their sacred cows eat them and die.

I also recently heard about somebody making plastic bottles and bags from organic materials, which supposedly makes them biodegradable.

By: Triumph

Triumph — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:07:53 +0000

This is a huge deal in Europe right now. Ireland (I think) and France have taxes or bans on plastic.

The interesting debate they are having there relates to the carbon footprint of plastic vs. paper. Although plastic uses petrol products in their production, they are actually less carbon intensive than paper.

So if you were an Al Gore lover you would keep the plastic.

By: Alex Knapp

Alex Knapp — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:04:27 +0000

I use the cloth bags for my groceries. They're quite sturdy, so I can actually carry more groceries out of my car without worrying about a bag breaking. I hate those effing plastic bags because all they do is end up taking a whole lot of space in the house on the theory that "well, I might re-use it..."

By: John

John — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:03:07 +0000

Here in Smithfield, VA, they grow cotton and those plastic bags are a scourge for the farmers. Here's the problem; the bags blow into the cotton fields from the road. When it comes time to harvest the cotton, the bags get picked up by the harvesters along with the bolls and get baled up. The bales go to the gin and the bags get shredded up with the cotton fibers. The plastic worked into the fibers makes defects in the cloth and devalues the harvest.

One grocery store in town, Farm Fresh, has stopped providing the plastic bags except for produce.

I'm not a tree hugger but I agree with this one. I use the canvas bags and the nice thing about them is that each bag carries more. So, fewer trips back out to the truck carrying in groceries.