Rant: Plastic bags

[Avonlea22]

Is it just me or is it just plain senseless to place just a single small item in a grocery/shopping bag without asking the customer if he/she wants a bag? I'm tired of going into stores and buying one or two small items and having the cashier automatically place said items in a bag. I'd like to be asked, because more times than not, I don't need one!

Please tell em there are others that feel the same way.

 

[Carols Clucks]

I wonder if that has more to do with what area of the country you live in?

In CA a lot of cities have banned them, not mine though.

I get asked all the time, even with I have a bunch more things that I can carry

 

[Avonlea22]

That could be.

I wish they were banned around here. I see them everywhere they don't belong. I can't tell you how many I've seen blowing out of trash trucks on the highway.

What do you use in CA, paper?

 

[yomama]

Our local Walmart and grocery store, Safeway, have bins to recycle them, so at least I have a place to take them when I have too many. I try to use my resusable bags most times. Stores here will put something small in a bag, so I usually pipe up first and tell them that I don't need a bag, or that I can just put that in my purse. I think it is probably more habit than anything with most of the checkout people. It does seem like a wast of a bag to me.

 

[jeremy]

Paper or cloth reusable bags.

 

[Carols Clucks]

Quote:
Well, mostly we are supposed to bring our own, the stores all sell reusable bags too (usually with some advertising/branding on them for under $2)

 

[love-my-wolves]

I can honestly say if plastic bags here were banned here, I'd be screwed! I use them at home for all the daily litter changes of my 3 cat boxes, ferret cage, chicken droppings, and endless other oddities. I hate having to buy little 1 gallon bags, what a waste of cash! But I totally agree with you, one or 2 items is insane, I also hate when they put gallons of milk, 6 pack bottles of soda or juice, or medium sized bags of dog/cat food in them. Grrrrrrrrr!

With that said, I do recycle any bags I don't use (very few) but I know most people do not.

 

[LindsayB]

Our grocery stores still use plastic bags and I really don't see a problem with it...I have a plastic bag holder in our pantry and I reuse them. They're great for all sorts of things but I mainly keep them for lining our bathroom trash cans.

 

[jtbrown]

If I can carry I ask them to keep the bag for the next person. Sometimes if running multiple errands I just dump stuff together when i get back to my car anyway.

I bought quilt from Kohls yesterday, with a carry handle built in to packaging, it was my only purchase and lady tried to put it in a bag. I told her to save the bag and she did, then slipped receipt under handle so If needed I could show it to someone on leaving the store. I think just tell them before they start bagging if you can, they are just trying to be efficient and get on to next customer most of the time.

. When getting weekly groceries I often ask fo milk, soda, etc. To be put in bags, we have no garage and have to park a ways from house so I really load up my arms to get the most items in the house at a time. We also re-use the bags to carry lunches to work, kitty litter changing (occasional, we have ten acres so my husband fenced in an area away from house and we mostly throw cat litter there so we don't have to haul it 1/4 mile to trash pickup site). Eventually it will degrade.

See, maybe that stuff all trades off so we use what is convenient an d important and conserve otherwise.

ETA last 2 paragraphs.

 

[Chickenmumma]

I agree with you Avonlea!!! I feel like I'm constantly saying 'no bag please' everytime I by anything. If cashiers asked everyone whether they need a bag it would also make more people actually THINK about whether they need one. I use calico resuable bags. Here are some interesting facts if anyone's interested...

http://environment.about.com/od/recycling/a/reusablebags.htm