Let the complaints begin...

[Dreamstalker]

I have seen biodegradable/more easily recyclable plastic bags, but they're not as strong as regular ones (I think they also need to be sent to a special facility).

The local bookstore has a few months to go through their remaining stock, but the manager is quoted as saying that they cannot find a suitable replacement for their largest sturdy plastic bags.

[fireheart]

It takes more natural resources to make a NEW paper bag, yes, but like plastic, paper can be recycled. I don't know which of the two requires more resources to recycle, but the issue is more what happens to either when they do eventually reach the landfill. Paper will decompose, where plastic won't, or at least not as quickly.

Pretty much.

I also know that a couple of places down here use bags that are derived from bamboo as well. Given that bamboo grows so fast, it makes things easier for ongoing sustainability.

[XCashier]

Today marks the day that the total ban on plastic shopping bags goes into effect

You have my sympathies. Our town is doing the same thing. It started back in May and it has been no end of headaches.

For one thing, very few people remember to bring in their own bags. They remember at the grocery store, but they don't seem to remember that all stores are under the ban. At my store, if a customer buys a length of fabric and assorted other items, I can wrap the items in the fabric and the customer can carry the bundle out that way. Likewise, if they buy a storage container, everything goes in there. If they don't buy either, and they don't want to pay five cents for a bag, they usually end up either juggling everything in their hands and dropping much of it, or they put everything back in the cart, wheel it out to the car and leave several items in the cart after loading their car.

And far too many of these same customers who forget their bags end up yelling at us over the bag ban. It wasn't our idea, people! Why the heck would we want to make our jobs more difficult?! I wish they would spew their vitriol on the lawmakers who passed this ban, but apparently, it's much easier to bully the cashiers who have no say in the matter. Then they can walk away satisfied, feeling they Stuck It To Da Man.

Yes, we've had more than a few people threaten to go to our store in NextTown because they don't charge five cents for a shopping bag. Got news for them; it'll take far more than five cents' worth of fuel to drive to the store in NextTown and back home!

So yeah, BTDT. Hugs and virtual hot chocolate for all the nonsense you'll be going through.

[sms001]

If this happened in my area, I would be sorely tempted to print up a map with the town's wards marked on it and the phone numbers of the council members. Don't like the bag-ban? Here's who to talk to....

[Dreamstalker]

That's what we've been telling people, bitch to the town council. That, and "you voted for it" (well not really, as it was never a ballot question that I recall--it was probably piggybacked on the styrofoam ban in a way that nobody would ever notice).

I am so sick of explaining it to people; we should print up BIG signs at the door "We have NO PLASTIC BAGS because Town Meeting are idiots. If you want to complain, complain to them" and be allowed to charge customers a quarter per complaint

[Geek King]

Not only that, but petroleum is a non-renewable resource,[...]

Not precisely true, but trees do grow back faster than compressed matter converts to oil.

[fireheart]

I tend to get around the bag ban here in one of two ways:

-If I've bought something from a store that provides the "boutique" bags, I will shove purchases from OTHER stores into it. (for instance, if I buy a t-shirt from Store A and then go and buy some craft supplies from Store B, I'll shove those things into the bag from Store A along with the t-shirt)

-I prefer to have a handbag that's big enough to fit an iPad, so I shove most small purchases in there if I"m not carrying said iPad.

[XCashier]

I've got two smaller cloth tote bags rolled up and stashed in my purse. My customers who do remember their bags usually have those large nylon tote bags that roll up into a small fist-sized bundle stashed in their purses or pockets. Those are pretty nifty, and I wish we sold them.

[Dreamstalker]

My mom has a few of those roll-up bags; we also have tote bags breeding in the closet One idea behind the ban was to get people to use more reusable bags, but it was implemented very poorly (we also need to bring back the per-bag credit at the store level; that was a huge incentive). If you're going to ban something locally make sure everyone knows, not just the members of Town Meeting and residents who have enough free time to attend hearings.

Again last night, people were shocked that we didn't have plastic. I swear we need a sign, at least until the end of the year.

*looks at mountain of plastic bags under the sink* Hmmm...should we go into black-market plastic bag supply?

[dalesys]

*looks at mountain of plastic bags under the sink* Hmmm...should we go into black-market plastic bag supply?

On the Group W bench...

"What're you in for, kid?"
"Pusher."
"What kind of dope?"
"Garbage bags."
... and they'll all move away from you ...

[Estil]

And as I mentioned before, even when people use those politically cor, I mean cloth bags, you still need to put the raw meat and raw poultry in separate plastic bags (not those tiny little clear bags, that just doesn't do the job) so you don't get cross contamination and so you don't get yucky sticky stuff all over the inside of the bag. But with this plastic bag ban, now what will they do?

[dalesys]

... so you don't get cross contamination and so you don't get yucky sticky stuff all over the inside of the bag. But with this plastic bag ban, now what will they do?

Shuddup shuddup shuddup! You're about to reveal the secret plan to get rid of the meat-eaters!

[Dreamstalker]

@ dale. You're probably not far off from that; a good bit of the population is on a high horse about eating vegan/organic/whatever-free (you think that X is 'expensive' here? Go to Whole Paycheck, we call it that for a reason)

A few of us have been 'spoken to' about how the new paper bags cost the store a good bit of money so we shouldn't use those for tiny orders, shouldn't double them, etc.

That's all well and good if there's an associate doing the bagging so they control it, but what about selfscan? People will double-bag if the weather sucks (as it does today) because the bags are crap. If I tell someone that they can't double the bags I get yelled at and they do it anyway (we're not supposed to bag on selfscan). I know I shouldn't fill the racks full, but someone does it anyway.

I like this town, but the local government (if you can call Town Meeting that) is full of people who live in the wealthy section and have no concept of how their 'decisions' will affect real people.

[Grendus]

Not precisely true, but trees do grow back faster than compressed matter converts to oil.

There are ways to "make" oil too, so it's technically renewable, but the energy cost makes it pointless to do so. The entire reason we use so much oil is because we have so much of it. If it wasn't oil, it'd be nuclear, or more wind/hydro/geothermal energy. It's the same reason we use a lot of steel (which is mostly iron and carbon), brick, concrete, and aluminum to build stuff - we don't necessarily like them, but we have a LOT of them.

[EricKei]

A few of us have been 'spoken to' about how the new paper bags cost the store a good bit of money so we shouldn't use those for tiny orders, shouldn't double them, etc.

Wait...wait...A vision is coming to me...I see the managers sternly reminding all of you that you must not disagree with any customer requests (even if they want everything packed lightly in double bags), while at the same time enforcing the unwritten rule you just mentioned.