A 2020 law banning plastic bags in Vermont has nearly eliminated their use in the state
A 2020 law banning plastic bags in Vermont has nearly eliminated their use in the state
I just wish more places put handles on the paper bags.
I don't mind a paper bag, but I hate having to, like, roll the top to carry it. Just give me some handles. Even a reinforced hole cut in the bag. Anything.
Would it be feasible to bring your own bags? I picked up a cheap 10 pack of fabric bags and they are sturdy enough I can usually fit a week's worth of groceries in two or three of them
As someone who frequently shops on their bike, lack of handles on paper bags can be the difference between me being able to bring things home or not. I can hang a plastic bag off of the handle bars or over my shoulder if I need to. A paper bag without handles is going to leave me pretty screwed if I don't currently have panniers with me.
Rack and some bungee used to be my way to do it.
Hated it every time.
Reusable bags. Bonus that you can find something that checks all your boxes and its all yours. Paper bags should be last resort and they should charge 10c to discourage their use.
I'd happily pay $1/paper bag with handles, just for the convenience. That's about what it's worth to me.
I'm absentminded as all hell, and I'm not gonna remember to bring an armful of bags into the grocery store with me. And then, if I'm not using a cart, I gotta carry them around? Nah.
I mean, it's a super first world problem, and not a big deal at all in the grand scheme of things. But in all honesty I'd rather just pay $1/paper bag than have to deal with it.
I have never in my life found a paper bag with handles that will hold groceries. I'd need easily twice as many to hold all my groceries vs my reusable ones.
Have you ever shopped at a Trader Joes? Those paper bags are by far the best paper bags that I've ever used, and can carry about as much as my reusable ones.
I assume handles cost more money to produce. But yes, bags without handles are useless if you’re shopping for the week.
They are also kind of fragile, if you put any force on the handle in any way other than directly vertically up, they fail easily. And they can still easily fail from a heavy bag or if the handle twists at all.
I am not from US but...
Your paper bags don't have handles? WTF? That's not a bag - that's a fancy packaging paper. Where I live, paper bags have handles made from...paper. Just tightly twisted, the same bag itself is made of, and it holds astoundingly well. You can feel when when the bag is too heavy to handle, but as of today, I only had bag itself give out rather than handles.
The number of upvotes suggests that people on here find it common for paper bags to not have handles, which is just completely weird and stupid. Shut down all the governments until they know how to handle bags.
Right? It's literally Trader Joe's and Aldi that have handled bags where I live. Every single other store only has handleless bags. It's terrible.
New York City has also banned plastic bags since 2020. I was skeptical about the ban at first, because by measure of material weight, bags are but a small fraction of plastic waste. Thin film is just too efficient in terms of use-per-weight ratio. I also thought anyone who didn't want to use plastic bags already had the option to bring their own reusable bags with them.
My newfound appreciation for the ban is that not only does it divert the use of plastic material, but it forces a change in the public perception around plastic use itself. Sure, you could bring your own bags, but it felt awkward because no one else did. You felt like you were inconveniencing the cashiers and other shoppers by breaking the routine, as if you were asking for special treatment. But now it's perfectly normal! You want to carry that bag of potatoes in your arms without an external bag? Go right ahead. You want to run home carrying a jug of milk dripping condensation on the pavement? Doesn't make you look like a crazy person! All thanks to the ban. Single action by the government on behalf of the collective has achieved what collective action by many single individuals could not have.
Nothing helped me get into the habit of remembering bags like going to the store and having nothing to pack my shit in, so you either buy reusable bags or walk out with your stuff still clanking arounf your cart loose.
It only took a few weeks to get the hang of it, and now after years, I nearly never forget my bags, and we keep spare ones in the car anyway.
Such a positive behavior change the whole community made
I mean, yeah, that's how bans work.
The news is that it did in fact work. You may think it's very clever to point out the obvious effect, but stupid people (republicans) need to hear over and over again that these programs have a positive effect and aren't just intended to impinge on their freedumbs.
I find it pretty incredible that a law can actually accomplish anything in this country these days
"news"
No more free bags for lining small trash cans, hiking trash and for the car
I'm in one of these bagless wastelands. We use bags from the groceries themselves. Many of the products we buy are also in some form of closeable plastic and just get put into a second piece of plastic for the short trip home.
Yay more paper bags for my compost however
I don’t live in Norway but where I live in the US plastic bags have been illegal for years
I get mine from visiting family in MA, they always have so many extra
Paper works for all of these purposes.
Meanwhile our plastic bag tax has pretty much eliminated paper bags and raked in fortunes in profits on plastic bags.
Yeah, that’s why plastic shouldn’t be an option. Paper bag tax for last resort only in my opinion.
Good on you Vermont, proud of you
In Norway we made the plastic bags really expensive (about half an Euro atm) and it's working wonders. I still have a stash of them, but they're for special emergencies. The stores sell actual trash bags that's much smaller and thinner, and thus more convenient (for me at least) so that problem is taken care of as well.
I keep 4 reusable fabric bags around as well, two for shopping, 1 for glass and 1 for recyclable bottles.
I find that I much prefer this system. And I still have the option to pay 5kr for a plastic bag at store if I have to.
5kr for a bag is juuust enough for me to get my reusable bag at home if I want to make spontaneous trip to the store on my way home.
Connecticut quit plastic bags around ghe same time too.
I saw one blowing in the wind as I was driving, realized, "damn I haven't seen one of those in a longgg time" It was like a relic.
It's shocking how much we had all just internalized seeing plastic bag litter. Our ban really did have a noticeable effect on the trash lying around. It's not just an invisible benefit "for the planet".
We had laws put up in Toronto. All it did was let corporations make more money off us. The bag fee was not ever required to be given to the city, the stores just kept it. And now instead of getting a plastic bag at the store, i get yet another reusable bag that is worse than. 100 bags and I’ll never use that many times
Bruh what are you talking about? The reusable bags you get from chains here (Shoppers, Canadian Tire, etc) are fantastic quality "cheap" bags. Canadian Tires's are massive
Don't get me started on IKEA bags, those cost like a dollar and are absolute top notch (especially now that they have the pride ones)
The only thing I think you really need plastic bags for is trash. Need to be able to compress and tie.
Plastic bags for groceries was always a stupid nonsense. Paper bags fit more stuff, are easier to pack and their handles don't turn into string that garrote your hands. And obviously the reusable grocery bags are superior to both. Two of those will last me like five years before they start becoming dubious. Can't remember the last time I carried groceries in a classic plastic bag. I associate that with the 90s. Can't believe it's still a thing in any grocery store anywhere.
But but but I was told that it would result in a plastic bag gray market or something.
Maryland shut down plastic store bags a few years ago. We're doing just fine.
When I drove to another state that was still using the disposable plastic bags, I get a little nostalgia for the convenience factor, But it no longer seems like a hardship to either carrying my own bags or use paper, I do wish they would give me the option to spend an extra quarter a bag and not make them out of fuxking tissue paper though
NJ got rid of them a few years back. My trashcans have had the sane liners since then.
For trash I'm still using plastic bags I hoarded in anticipation of our ban in NYC 5 years ago.
On scroll by, the bags in the picture look like people in a convertible.
Anyone been to a state that has outlawed* banning of plastic bags? The roadsides are covered in - you guessed it - plastic bags stuck to fence lines.
*Yes that's a thing. And yes it is utterly stupid
And in Alabama, when the city of Birmingham banned plastic bags, the state turned around and made a law that banning plastic bags was not allowed 🤦♀️
"Alabama: Boldly refusing to accept diversity and the inevitable since 1819."
(I wonder how bad the brain drain is at this point)
But at least you can marry your cousin. First cousins!
The right, "We hate gov control of local govs unless we like it."