Calif. moves to ban plastic bags at grocery stores

[tabatha]

At last, at last - although I don't use them.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37479204

My science teacher many years ago was worried about plastic. I think she would be horrified by what has actually happened.

[SocialistLez]

1. Though I like the ban, taxation is a good form to reduce people's use of them.

I try my best to bring my reusable bags to the store.
I'm getting better at putting the reusable bags back in the trunk within 24 hours of grocery shopping. :bounce:

[Warpy]

2. They also need to allow people to purchase reusable bags at cost

with food stamps or other public assistance.

I stick my bags on a hook next to the door. That way I always remember them.

[tabatha]

4. Where I grew up, there were no plastic bags.

I always carried a very collapsible string bag in my purse/handbag.

[handmade34]

3. this is my fight

I make cloth shopping bags from recycled materials, sell them and give them away... takes approx. 21 days to break a habit... shop, empty bags, put at door and next time you go out put them in your car, bike or whatever you go shopping in. We must do it.

[tabatha]

5. Good for you. Thanks for doing that.

If there are no plastic bags, people will have to remember.
Too bad paper bags could not be banned as well.

The cloth bags are very cheap, 99c.

[handmade34]

6. the bags they sell in stores

for .99 are mostly polypropylene... I don't know all there is to know, but don't like them, as they are an oil product.

[tabatha]

7. Do you have a web site for your bags?

[mitchtv]

8. my city gives them away

they are made of recycled plastic bottles. I am almost completely off plastic bags. I take the Target bags, however, as they are bigger and fit my garbage can.

[tularetom]

9. WTF am I supposed to use for cleaning out litter boxes?

Sorry, but I don't share the joy at the prospect of banning plastic bags. We have four indoor kitties and we depend on plastic grocery bags for disposing of their little deposits. I'm all in favor of reusable everything and we do use reusable canvas bags but they obviously won't be much good after I've filled them with cat poo and piss.

Our cats and I strongly oppose this proposal.

[tabatha]

10. Garbage bags are still available.

[Warpy]

11. I use old cat food bags

Hey, it goes in one end and comes out the other, seems appropriate that's where it goes. The cat doesn't seem to mind as long as the box is scooped out once in a while and the litter changed on trash day.

Completely deprived of trash bags, I'd just dump the litter onto newspapers and roll them up like a burrito to get rid of it.

[OnlinePoker]

13. Not allowed here...the paper is considered recyclable and isn't allowed in the garbage. n/t

[Warpy]

17. We can recycle newspapers and computer paper here

and corrugated cardboard. Thin cardboard, glossy paper and other paper packaging goes into the trash.

I keep hoping they'll open recycling to other materials, but it hasn't happened yet unless you drive to one of the specialized recycling centers.

[kestrel91316]

23. If the newspaper is filthy it's no longer recyclable.

[handmade34]

14. while I appreciate your love for your kitties

...this issue effects millions of animals all over the world. There are many ways to dispose of kitty droppings other than plastic grocery store bags. Please be creative and stop using plastic bags and if you must, you can buy compostable bags made from corn.

http://www.biobagusa.com/biobag_dog.htm

http://www.helpwildlife.com/plasticbags.html



We all live in a big world, with lots of people and if we don't think about others and the environment when we make decisions, we all fail.

[SocialistLez]

16. Thank you for those links.

My mother doesn't use reusable bags because she likes to use the plastic bags for the garbage cans in the bathrooms.
I just try my best to reuse the plastic bag and empty it before she gets a chance to throw the trash AND the bag away.

[petronius]

19. We have found that we get enough other bags in the course of our shopping

to handle the litter box needs - bread, produce, tortillas, etc all seem to unavoidably come in the right size bag and we set them aside as they're emptied. Of course, we only have two kitties and one is mostly outside, so there may be a volume difference here...

[bergie321]

20. Thanks

I never even thought of reusing bread bags for cat litter.

[tularetom]

21. Volume difference? You don't even want to know

We used to have five but we had our mama cat put to sleep earlier this year.  She was the mother of three of our cats and was about 17 years old. Already I'm noticing a reduction in the output. We have 4 litter boxes in the house and one in the garage where the cats sometimes hang out. Our cats must have bladders the size of BB's.

We also have a half dozen or so barn kitties (which is where we got our mama cat. She was abandoned by her own mother and was about to become coyote food so we brought her into the house and bottle fed her).

[kestrel91316]

24. Once I started paying attention to alternative plastic bags from my kitchen, I was astounded how

many pass through and I used to just toss, unthinkingly.

[kestrel91316]

22. I quit using plastic GROCERY bags for cat litter scooping disposal

over two years ago with no problem. I simply use the myriad other plastic bags that find their way into my home. Mostly plastic food packaging. Produce bags are great.

And I don't scoop once and toss. I scoop at least twice and sometimes 3 or 4 times into the same bag (which gets twisted tight shut and stuck under the sink in between scoopings. No odor issues.

Plastic carrot bags.....plastic resealable ziploc type snack bags...........plastic newspaper bags if you have a paper delivered........there is NO shortage of alternatives. And the grocery bags always had some damned tear in the bottom and the scoopings leaked out.

I have also used brown paper lunch sacks, but prefer to re-use something free rather than purchase something new, even if paper.

[OnlinePoker]

12. So what do you do with your household garbage?

While we have reusable bags coming out are ears here, we still like to get a couple of plastics to use for garbage. The plastic kitchen bags they sell are much thicker than the grocery bags and would take forever to break down in the landfill (I know they never really break down, just disintegrate, but there would be much more plastic waste from the commercial bags than the store grocery bags).

[handmade34]

15. there are biobags

that are compostable (not perfect, but better). When I lived in one place I was able to recycle, reuse or otherwise take care of stuff without making garbage. I had a worm composting barrel in the basement for all food stuff, took all paper, plastic and aluminum to the recycling center and tried very hard not to buy things that came in non-compostable containers. Some communities are better than others about recycling and there really are no absolute easy answers, but this is a crucial issue and it has been, for decades, for some of us.

[Ratty]

18. These bags were always my personal green Achilles heel

I don't own a car so no place to stow reusable bags, nor do I carry any kind of backpack. If I know I'm going to the store I'll take a few plastic bags with me but so often I don't realize I'm going to the store until I'm leaving work or on my way home. I just don't plan ahead like that. The rest of my life is pretty darn green but I've just never been able to get my act together in regards to plastic shopping bags and I ALWAYS feel a little twinge of guilt when they ask me "paper or plastic" and then they're typically double bagged so they survive the trip home hanging from my handle bars.

Still, I'm glad they're finally doing this. I was always amazed they hadn't done it in Berkeley yet while other surrounding cities had done it years ago. I just read a couple days ago it was due to lawsuit threats from the plastic bag companies. I've been expecting this and have been hoarding my bags (at least they don't end up in landfill, right?). They're just so darn useful.

[wtmusic]

25. +1

My immediate reaction to this was negative, but I had to step back. I'm not a planner either but I'm gonna become one.

:thumbsup: