Banned in Boston: Plastic bags at grocery stores

[brooklynite]

Source: CBS News

A Boston city ordinance banning major grocery store chains from providing plastic bags to customers went into effect Friday. The new law – enacted to help reduce pollution and clean up city streets – applies only to checkout bags, described in the ordinance as carryout bags with handles.

Retailers can still stock recyclable paper bags, compostable bags or reusable bags and sell them for at least 5 cents, as long as the charge is advertised near the checkout location, according to the ordinance, signed into law by Mayor Marty Walsh last December.

The plastic bag ban will be rolled out over eight months. For now, it applies only to stores that are 20,000 square feet or larger. Stores that are at least 10,000 square feet have until April 1, 2019, to comply. Smaller establishments have until July 1, 2019.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/plastic-bag-ban-now-in-effect-in-boston/

[Auggie]

1. Took a few weeks to get used to in California, but it's a good ban

[Mr.Bill]

3. Yes it is.

The store I shop at sells good reusable bags for ten cents. When I bring my own bags (their reusable ones or any others) they pay me five cents each.

[BigmanPigman]

14. I have recycled the same bags in CA for a year.

They charge 10 cents but they are stronger than the pre-plastic bag bags that they used in the past. I rinse them out and reuse them. I still forget and leave them in the car sometimes still. Old habits I guess. I wish they would ban plastic drinking bottles too.

[Doreen]

2. Olympia Washington did that years ago. If you want a paper bag you have to pay for it also.

I do not know about the rest of Washington however. I am sure my town will be one of the last as it is in a very red county.

[violetpastille]

4. Not in my part of Washington

But I have already made the switch.

I also use mesh produce bags that can be scanned through, buy in bulk and have given up paper towels.

We used to make two cans of garbage a week and now we only make one half.

It really makes a difference!

[Auggie]

5. My berg combined composting with yard waste. Talk about cutting down on garbage!

[Doreen]

8. I have not gone to mesh bags yet as the plastic bags are perfect for cat litter.

I will have to find something else when they do change but until then. They have the biodegradable scoop bags for walking your dog so maybe they will come up with those that are bigger for scooping cat pans.

[zanana1]

31. That's what I use them for, too. nt

[SeattleVet]

11. With any luck, the proposed new legislation next month will make it statewide.

https://www.knkx.org/post/statewide-ban-proposed-single-use-plastic-bags-washington

There are already 23 local jurisdictions with this in place in the state.

[yonder]

6. Unlike red-state Idaho, which a few years ago

took away the right for local communities and cities to impose just such a ban. You know, the very republican, thump their chests while shouting "local control-is-best" folks.

If I remember correctly, that bill was written at the behest of a sole plastic bag distributor/provider business.

[DownriverDem]

7. Excellent

I hate those plastic bags. I can't wait for when Kroger gets rid of them.

[LisaM]

9. We have this ban in Seattle (though some places sell a multi-use plastic bag for 20 cents).

For the most part this is okay, though there are loopholes - they still have plastic bags in the produce section, for example. The main issue with this, as with most things, is that it's inconvenient for poor people or people (like me) who ride the bus for the most part. They want you to haul bags everywhere, but I'm guessing the people who design these laws don't take transit. I mean, in general, I support it (and I'm really happy we ban Styrofoam), but like a lot of rich people laws, there are unintended consequences. They assume everyone does grocery shopping in a car. They assume everyone can keep a stash of bags around (this is a problem in our small apartment). They assume that you have an extra five or twenty cents per bag to spend.

[WhiteTara]

10. At Aldie's you pay a quarter to get the cart

and you get it back when you put your cart back and the cashiers sit on stools and you must bring your own bags and boxes. As they check you out they put your stuff in a cart and you take it over to a packing shelf and put your stuff in your bags and boxes. If you forget your bags, you put it in your car as it is. Their food and produce are great and they carry lots of organics. It can be done and the consumer saves some money because they don't provide cart service or bags of any kind. Sort of like Costco.

[OnlinePoker]

12. I'm curious, for those who don't get plastic bags, what do you use for garbage?

These are the only bags we ever use for trash and to buy an even thicker grade of plastic "kitchen catcher" type seems to defeat the purpose.

[Raine]

15. I'm in California, I'm stuck buying

Hefty type bags, yup it does seem to kind of defeat the purpose..

[RhodeIslandOne]

16. I use plastic shopping bags to line all my small garbage cans

I have to buy large garbage bags from the town, or else they will not pick up my trash.

There are instances where the small plastic bags can save on waste.

[Rollo]

18. I've been using 16 gallon drawstring trash bags for years, but just for kitchen waste...

They seem to be the only things that hold up to heavy loads. I get the Kirkland brand at Costco.

I was doing this well before my locality (SF Bay Area) started banning retail outlets from supplying disposable plastic bags a few years ago. I also have a robust composting system in my back yard, where a lot of organic kitchen waste winds up. Plus the local waste service includes not only a household waste bin, but ample green waste (compostable kitchen scraps and paper OK) and recycle bins.

A while ago I picked up a box of "compostable" disposable plastic shopping bags. However I left them in a covered area of the yard, and the elements resulted in the plastic bags basically decomposing, so they are useless after a few years. So yeah, they are probably compostable, but not very good for carrying stuff.

Like others, I got used to the disposable plastic bag ban fairly quickly. I just have to remember to stick some non-disposable shopping bags in the car trunk before shopping, LOL. I actually prefer them to the flimsy disposable kind; they are more sturdy and carry more.

I have puzzled a bit that paper bags are included in the local ban. After all, paper bags are quite compostable. I guess the objection is that paper bags come from trees, mainly. But then trees are a renewable resource, and capture carbon to boot. And paper can be made from a variety of vegetable fibers. Plus I re-use my paper bags.

Recently saw an online article where a company in South America has developed a building material from recycled plastic. They create large Lego-like building blocks, which they are using to create housing for the homeless. Seems like a win-win.

[Rollo]

23. Not really

A big problem with disposable plastic grocery/shopping bags is that they get carelessly discarded, blow into rivers, lakes, oceans, and wind up in some huge swirling mass of plastic waste in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Hefty type garbage bags, on the other hand, get filled with garbage and put into landfill. At least when they are filled with crap they don't blow around and end up in the ocean (assuming big cities like NYC no longer load up barges with municipal waste and dump them into the ocean). Ideally all compostable stuff goes into compost (home or municipal) and not into the municipal waste stream. What's left is truly waste and probably belongs in a plastic lined tomb.

[crazycatlady]

25. the bags I use for garbage are much bigger than a grocery bag

[roody]

26. After the ban, I found many other type of bags to use.

I compost all my kitchen waste, so my garbage is dry. I use dog food bags, paper bags, bags from various things. I have never bought kitchen garbage bags.

[alphafemale]

29. Use the paper ones now.

That took a long time to figure out.

[OnlinePoker]

30. We don't get paper ones here...maybe once they ban the plastic, though. n/t

[Retrograde]

34. What Rollo said

I'm also in the Bay Area, my town has had the plastic bag ban for several years. I've accumulated a large number of reusable bags for free from various places, including a small sack that folds into itself and fits into a purse or even a pocket (Chico Bags makes them for sale). We did go to Hefty-type bags for actual garbage, which isn't very much these days since my city's composting facility (actually shared with other cities in the area) will take food-stained paper, bones, food scraps, vegetable parings, even small pieces of wood. Combine that with an aggressive recycling program that takes most paper, plastics (even plastic bags if they're bundled, so when I get them I stuff them into one bag until that full, then knot it and put in the recycle bin), metal, glass and there's not much left to put into the landfill trash.

And despite the ban I still manage to accumulate small plastic bags.

[Lulu KC]

13. This and the Senate saying no more support to SA for Yemen

Two good news headlines--one for the humans, one for the not-only-humans. Turning on selfcontrol app so I can just call it good.....oh, wait...Mike Flynn....I can't break free!

[EllieBC]

17. Just wash your reusable bags frequently.

Especially the ones you use for meat. Hot water and bleach.

[BeneathTheMire]

19. Or just don't eat meat

And drastically reduce the waste you are putting out into the environment.

[Polybius]

20. I can't go a day without meat

So that solution is not for me.

[BeneathTheMire]

21. What do you mean?

[Polybius]

32. I mean I'm not quitting meat

I can't even go one day without it, let alone forever.

[BeneathTheMire]

33. Sorry to hear that.

[Polybius]

35. Don't be

n/t

[EllieBC]

22. Thanks for your suggestion.

I’ll just ignore it.

[JudyM]

27. Welcome to DU, BeneathThe Mire.

[GulfCoast66]

24. I don't really use reusable bags and hate plastic ones.

We use paper bags. Mainly to line our kitchen trash can rather than those 13 gallon plastic ones.

Plus we tote stuff to work and other places in them. I use them to start the fire in my grill rather than petroleum products. They make a good mulch for young vegetables placed between rows in the garden to prevent weeds. We clean out the litter box with them. I use them on the tailgate to filet fish.

And my wife is very crafty. She cuts them up, turns them inside out and wraps presents in them tied with that straw looking string stuff.

I’m sure I am missing some uses. They are just handy to have around.

I hate using anything once. Well, except TP!

[Demonaut]

36. RIP