These people are only happy if they're using force. Doesn't matter what, doesn't matter against who, as long as they're using force against innocent people somewhere.

I really despise those reuseable grocery bags. I just don't feel they are very sanitary if I'm buying meats and produce. They are great if I'm making a Target run purchasing household items and boxed items like cereal and the like. Besides, I recycle the plastic bags at the store. I keep a stash for the small trashcans in the bathrooms and for dog waste, but that's it. So ridiculous that certain cities are banning the use of the bags because I doubt it has much of an effect on things. And I'd rather not use a bag over and over that's had raw meat in it.

That's a sweet deal for the grocery store. Their cost is probably about 0.01 cents per bag. Now they just need to get their lobbyists to work on the remaining government units that won't play along.

Sara, the reusable bags actually wash quite nicely. I didn't think I would like them either, but bc of their construction I can pack my groceries more efficiently. I use plastic for milk and meat, but still wash my bags every two weeks or so. Still, I agree that I am already paying for the bags in price of my groceries, so why should I have to pay extra for bags?

They implemented the plastic bag ban, plus 10 cents for paper in my county. I hate it, but would have to drive 20 minutes to shop in the county over. The 10 cents for paper really irks me. Makes me want to throw more shit away and recycle less. Fucking bastards.

Instead of charging extra for bags, the store I shop at gives a discount for using your own. I reuse the plastic bags for trash, lunches, animal cleanup, etc, so they can keep their nickel, thanks.

You would have thought Santa Monica would have learned their lesson after the "ATMs may not charge fees" fiasco a few years ago. That law was an utter disaster and Santa Monica was quickly forced to repeal it.

The thing I had most about the ban - virtually every purchasing interaction now comes with the added line,"Would you like to buy a bag?" or if I indicate that I need to buy a bag, they will say,"They are 10 cents each." At least 1 sentence added to every purchase interaction. 5 seconds of my life wasted each time. Multiply by everyone who has to go through this and you have 1000's of wasted man hours. I bet the dickheads who implemented this don't even go to the store for themselves - they probably have servants to do that for them.

When I worked in a grocery store (as a cashier in college), the bring-your-own bag movement was just starting. And I hated with a flaming passion those bring-your-own cloth bags and the people who brought them.

The reusable bags didn't fit on the bag rack (built nicely for the plastic bags), so I couldn't make them stand up and had to load them with one hand holding the bag and one hand shoveling stuff into it. This was inconvenient at the bagger station and a total pain at the cashier station.

Invariably, the person who brought the bags would tell me how to load them. I'm well aware you don't stack cans on bread or put ice cream and hot rotisserie chicken in the same bag, thank you.

However, their instructions went beyond that - they'd tell me which specific products go in which specific bag. They didn't want leaky/messy stuff (meat) to stain a certain bag (the one with the "cool" logo), reserved a certain bag for toiletries, etc.

Meanwhile, I'm watching the folks in line behind them getting more impatient by the minute. This bossy person was cutting into their bully-the-bagger time.

I can only imagine the thoughts going through the baggers' heads in towns that have banned plastic bags.

Wanna learn to really hate the public? Get a job interacting with it.

Conan, sorry to hear that.

Whenever I go shopping and I know I'll be getting something messy, I bring not only a cloth bag but a plastic one. Also, since I'm usually in the express lane anyway, I tend to do my own bagging as the cashier is running things through. However, if there's no one behind me, I might let the cashier do it while I get my cash out. (Express lanes don't usually have baggers, in my experience.)

At any rate, I ALWAYS make sure not to hold up the line.

Sheep mommy wrote: Sara, the reusable bags actually wash quite nicely. I didn't think I would like them either, but bc of their construction I can pack my groceries more efficiently.

Yep! The trick is to get cloth bags (not those weird, hard-sided, recycled-pastic ones). I pop 'em in with my sheets and towels (hot water).

Plus, I walk or bike to the grocery store, so having sturdy bags with long handles (for slinging over my shoulder and tying to my bicycle basket) makes more sense to me.

Austin (where I live) is about to institute an all-out plastic bag ban (which I don't necessarily like, even though I hardly ever use plastic anyway). I prefer what they do in DC: Charge 5 cents per plastic bag, with the money going toward cleaning the river of litter (much of which is plastic bags anyway). It incentivizes people to get re-usable bags, while, at the same time, letting them get a bag for a few cents if they accidentally forget theirs at home (or want a bag liner for their garbage can or whatever).

I actually get groceries in the plastic bags and then put those in the cloth bags to lug up the stairs to my condo. The cloth bags are easier to carry stuff around in. But I like to have a supply of the plastic bags for kitty litter. The town I shop in (on my way home from work) was contemplating a ban on plastic bags, fortunately it didn't pass since I would have had to change my shopping / commuting route to avoid that town completely.

Being charged for bags pisses Gregg off.

Seattle has a plastic bag ban that went into effect last summer. Doesn't bother me, or anyone I know, one bit.

Lobster: These people are only happy if they're using force. Doesn't matter what, doesn't matter against who, as long as they're using force against innocent people somewhere.

You're right. Doctors are a good example. When they came out in favor of laws requiring people to wear seat belts, they weren't doing it because they knew it would save lives. Nope. They were power-mad. Not enough for them to boss their patients around. They had to boss other people around too. Pisses me off.

I have some reusable bags, and launder them on a regular basis. I too like the long handles, because I can throw them over my shoulder for the trek to the 4th floor.

But, I also like the plastic to use in the small bathroom wastebasket and whatnot.

My problem with this whole thing is government butting into my business.

I always love scientific discussions"

Austin (where I live) is about to institute an all-out plastic bag ban (which I don't necessarily like, even though I hardly ever use plastic anyway). I prefer what they do in DC: Charge 5 cents per plastic bag, with the money going toward cleaning the river of litter (much of which is plastic bags anyway). It incentivizes people to get re-usable bags, while, at the same time, letting them get a bag for a few cents if they accidentally forget theirs at home (or want a bag liner for their garbage can or whatever). -- sofar at January 8, 2013 1:53 PM

As I understand it, many communities have "river" cleanup programs staffed by volunteers groups, organization, and companies that come out once or twice a year to both street, highways, and rivers that they selected. The cost to the government is the $250 fee to put up the sign for the designated area.

I'd also bet that the total weight of the "(much of which is plastic bags anyway)" plastic bags, even wet, is about 250 pounds at most. The typical box of plastic bags is probably about 20 pounds to start with. So what is the real gain. -- somewhere around .01%?

You're right. Doctors are a good example. When they came out in favor of laws requiring people to wear seat belts, they weren't doing it because they knew it would save lives. Nope. They were power-mad. Not enough for them to boss their patients around. They had to boss other people around too. Pisses me off. -- JD at January 8, 2013 6:39 PM

You're so right. Seat-belt laws are so wrong because they're based on science. I'd love to see the science on how using a plastic bag is so wrong based on real science as well. Are you saying that a ban on plastic bags will help with global warming? Why haven't most states, let alone the rest of the world, broken high temperature records almost every single day for the past few years then?

They charge for paper and plastic bags here in Switzerland. It really isn't a big deal. I bring my reusable bags, which I can wash if I'm worried about hygiene. If I forget them, I buy paper, which I use for my recycling.

The bigger PITA is they don't pick up recycling in our village, we have to bring it to the recycling center, which would be ok except that the hours are inconvenient (2 hours Monday afternoon, 2 hours Wednesday afternoon, 2 hours Saturday morning)

"You're right. Doctors are a good example. When they came out in favor of laws requiring people to wear seat belts, they weren't doing it because they knew it would save lives. "

You're going to have to explain to me how banning plastic bags saves thousands of people a year from dying a horrible death. And look at it this way: In our household, those things get used for a number of purposes: to line small trash cans, to sort out greasy car parts, to preserve paint brushes overnight, and to scoop the cat box. If I didn't have bags from the grocery store for those purposes, I'd have to buy some. So what's the diff?

In our household, those things get used for a number of purposes: to line small trash cans, to sort out greasy car parts, to preserve paint brushes overnight, and to scoop the cat box. If I didn't have bags from the grocery store for those purposes, I'd have to buy some.

Maybe the bag ban isn't an environmental thing. Maybe it's a conspiracy engineered by the Glad company to eliminate an alternative and force people to buy small can garbage bags.

I started using reusable bags long before they became another mantra of the Green religion. I was tired of my plastic bags ripping and dumping my groceries everywhere. It really pissed some of the cashiers off, but I did what I could to minimize their inconvenience (and I'm not picky about what item goes where--that's what washing machines are for).

These days, if I swing by the grocery store and forget my bags, I frequently get a lecture about the irresponsibility of plastic bags.

It's been years, but while in school and keeping tabs on issues in sub-Saharan Africa, I recall many areas had plastic bag bans. Different world though, and makes sense when you consider their ongoing issues with malaria.

Does anybody remember when paper bags became synonymous with anti-environmental asshole, because plastic bags meant you save tree?

Does anybody remember when paper bags became synonymous with anti-environmental asshole, because plastic bags meant you save tree? ~ Meloni

That changed because the "environmental" movement was never about saving the planet, it is, and always has been, about chastising others for not being conscientious - setting oneself apart as caring, sensitive, and socially conscious.

At some point you'll be chastised for using cloth bags (exploiting third-world workers and using toxic chemicals in the dying/finishing process) or those cloth-like bags (toxic chemicals in the manufacturing process).

You're going to have to explain to me how banning plastic bags saves thousands of people a year from dying a horrible death.

Dave, people like Lobster perceive the motivation behind laws -- whether they are laws requiring seat belts or laws banning plastic bags -- as a desire to use "force against innocent people." That's the larger point I was addressing: motive, intent.