Rant: Plastic bags

[EweSheep]

Quote:
We are like the Texans, bigger is better!

We got our heads into this mess and now it is up to us to figure it out!

Granted, we don't have nearby stores every so many blocks, particuarly with elderly people. We live out farther than the UK friends and I am sure the UK farm folks do the same way we do, buy all what is needed for the week or for the month rather than driving everyday for the day's meal.

 

[Carols Clucks]

Many of the areas in Europe, the cities and towns are closer together. And you don't pass giant walmarts, you do see small grocery stores. Gas and cars are very expensive to own.

Most people use public transportation, so buying a months worth of groceries might be an issue when you have to carry them on the bus or train. But you would be amazed at how many older people ride their bikes.

When my grandmother was too elderly to pick up her groceries, they were dropped off for her or meals delivered. Denmark has a much different social system

 

[WriterofWords]

I wish we had paper!
Quote:

 

[SillyChicken]

Quote:
I loved it in Europe! Even the small town is pretty much self supporting, you have a baker, dr, pharmacist (like a dr for basic stuff), food store, shoe store, etc.... You wouldn't really even need a car unless you worked out of town or traveled alot. So having a cloth bag to carry home that days or few days worth of food would be so worth it!

Unfortunatly, in the US, everything is so spread out, even in the towns, that you have to have a vehicle and generally drive a least 10- 30 miles to get to work... I have an hour drive to my job, 30 minutes in any direction to a dr or store. So I only go to the store and mill twice a month, on pay day.

 

[EKC Farms in the desert]

The Albertson's near my house switched to the brown colored plastic bags a few months ago. They are a much lesser quality of material. I had a few Rockstar energy drinks in a bag, probably 6 of them. Once I got home and started carrying up the drive way- the bag busted. I was so mad. And I have noticed boxes (stuffing, velvetta shells and chees, etc) puncture the bag so quick now. I think I might break down and buy the resuable bags here and there. I really like to reuse the plastic bags for trash and packing boxes for extra packing. I figured once we have a dog I can use it to pick up the #2 from the yard or on walks. I thought abotu keeping the bags in the vehicle, so I would always have a reusable bag. But I never take the same vehicle. My DH doesn't like anything extra to be left in his car either.

 

[franklinstreetwest]

I think this goes to a basic mindset in our population. One of convenience, disposability and entitlement. Plastic wasn't even in widespread use until the 1940's, and it certainly wasn't used for grocery bags. Plastic garbage bags weren't invented until the 1950's and were for commercial purposes. In the 1960's garbage bags for home use were introduced. Civilized people have lived clean and happy lived for centuries without using plastic bags to carry things, line their trash bins, clean their litter boxes etc...Many people currently manage to not use plastic bags and somehow remain sanitary and efficient.

--There is a grocery store chain in the state where I live that has never offered free bags of any kind. They have a grocery cart at the end of the checkout belt that all your groceries get placed in. Then you take the newly filled cart to the "wall counter" where there are boxes (that the groceries were shipped to the store in) you can use your own bags, or the recycled boxes. Incidently you can purchase heavy duty plastic bags from them, but most people don't. It is a grocery store that is frequented by very low income people, they just don't have the money for frivolity. I have NEVER forgotten to bring a bag to THAT store. And if I choose not to, I know there are boxes at the ready.

--Fabric can be washed, bleached &/or boiled. All those things will return a natural fiber cloth to a sanitary state. I have cloth diapers that I'm sure had poop and pee in them for most of their lives...smell fresh as a spring day when washed and I'm certain are not rife with bacteria. I have glass canning jars that have been used in the chicken coop, kicked around in the basement, covered in all manner of bacterial science experiments at one time or another...washed and boiled they are clean and safe to be used again. My stainless steel trash cans can be filled with greesy, grimey, gopher guts and then I can empty them and sterilize them to a state of fresh newness. On the flip-side, my mother's tupperware (as well as the inside of every plastic re-useable container) smells funny and kinda freaks me out!!

It requires a change of thought process and behavior to realize there is a different way of doing things and then take action to do it differently. If the stores didn't offer any bags, the question "Paper or plastic?" would cease to exist. People would learn quickly that they had to fend for themselves and they would take measures to do so.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I have been using recycled feed bags that a BYC member sewed and sent to me. It has handles, is VERY sturdy and looks great. It can hold a lot of groceries. This BYC member sells them. I have a red Purina Start & Grow shopping bag and a green Country Acres shopping bag. Both are the 50 lb feed bags.

I use these because I don't like the plastic bags either.

 

[Avalon1984]

Quote:
I loved it in Europe! Even the small town is pretty much self supporting, you have a baker, dr, pharmacist (like a dr for basic stuff), food store, shoe store, etc.... You wouldn't really even need a car unless you worked out of town or traveled alot. So having a cloth bag to carry home that days or few days worth of food would be so worth it!

Unfortunatly, in the US, everything is so spread out, even in the towns, that you have to have a vehicle and generally drive a least 10- 30 miles to get to work... I have an hour drive to my job, 30 minutes in any direction to a dr or store. So I only go to the store and mill twice a month, on pay day.

The other problem is, or at least was in my village that not all stores carried the same stuff. So if you have a long shopping list you will end up walking or bicycling from one store to the other. It gets quite dreadful. I do like the idea over there of returning your Styrofoam plates that you buy meat on. Works the same like the pop cans here and you get 10 cents back. Seems to me that stuff wastes just as much material as plastic bags.