"Why don't you have plastic bags anymore??"

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I have a little drawstring adidas bag I take shopping with me. Items small enough to fit inside go in that bag.

I probably have a bigger cloth bag from some grocery store in town lying around here someplace. Even if it does have their logo on it, I don't really care.

[Whyme]

Am I the only one that remembers when grocery stores used to just have brown paper bags ? I remember the switch to plastic bags and the cashiers my grandmother traumatized by throwing fits over having to use "those bags!".

I like using the plastic bags for trash/cat litter, but it's no biggie. The grocery stores around here starting selling the reusable ones and I find them much easier to carry and I can fit more in them. I just bring a few along with me when I go shopping now. The grocery store across the street from where I work takes ten cents off your order per bag if you bring your own.

[Gwen_Goth]

oh wow; such a faf about having to remember that you may go shopping on an arbitary day.

think i'm gonna go buy a few of these after reading through all this

will be easy to keep hold of them; i think my wallet is bigger then they are

[Broomjockey]

personally i like plastic bags over paper.

1) try biking while holding a paper bag. pretty sucky. the plastic is easier to use.
<snip>

and another part of me wonders... just how much a "no plastic bag" rule will change the environment,

Saddlebags for bikes. Backpack. There are options. Also the reuseable ones aren't that much more difficult to hold, only because they're larger (here), which might make it more difficult, yes.

As for environmental change, there are always plastic grocery bags blowing around here, which end up caught in fences, on trees, etc. That *alone* gotten rid of would be a huge positive change. Remember, nothing's ever solved by a grand gesture. The little things add up.

[Seshat]

I carry two stuffit or Howard Storage bags. They fold down to the size of a travel-pack of tissues, and open out to the size of a plastic bag. Perfect for unplanned shopping trips. (The Howard Storage ones are much cheaper than the Stuffits, btw. I can't find them in the catalogue, but they're always there in the stores.)

Since I need a mobility scooter, I make a virtue of an inconvenience. It has a grocery carrier on the back, and I keep an insulated bag and a cooler bag in the pocket in the back of the scooter's seat. Between the two fold-down-to-teeny bags and the two bags in the scooter's pocket, I can easily load the scooter with groceries and keep leaky things separated from non-leaky. But even before the scooter, disabled little me could carry a couple of fold-to-teeny cloth bags every time I left the house.

The only reason it's 'too inconvenient' is that you're using the wrong bags. Yes, the big, bulky ones designed for a weekly grocery shop or a special-purpose trip to Ikea are inconvenient for 'I'll just nip in and get some milk'. You want convenient, keep-in-your-handbag-or-pocket bags for those trips.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I carry two stuffit or Howard Storage bags. They fold down to the size of a travel-pack of tissues, and open out to the size of a plastic bag.

Anyone know where they sell those kinds of bags in the states?

My parents' kitchen trash "can" is actually just a small frame that holds a plastic grocery bag. (I tried to find a pic but couldn't.) It has to be taken out more often, but on the up side, it's not as heavy, plus it doesn't get as smelly cuz it's not sitting there as long. My mom also has a small "can" (actually a sheet of plastic canvas from the craft store, rolled into a cylinder, and sewn up at the seam with waterproof yarn; it's about the size of a Quaker Oats can, which was what she originally used until it got wet too many times and started to break down). It is the perfect size for the bags that the newspaper comes in. She keeps it next to the sink and uses it for small trash and scraps while she's cooking and stuff, rather than having to keep opening the cabinet under the sink.

I also use grocery bags in my little trash cans in the bathroom and my bedroom.

[PepperElf]

As for environmental change, there are always plastic grocery bags blowing around here, which end up caught in fences, on trees, etc. That *alone* gotten rid of would be a huge positive change

the local community here always makes an effort to keep this place clean. i'm not joking when i say i'd be surprised to see gum on the sidewalk. they also banned smoking on one street just cos of the butts everywhere.

oh and yeah, in japan if you get caught putting the wrong stuff in the wrong bins you get in trouble too. so it's clean here and most people in this city are big on keeping it that way. even with all of their plastic bags n all.

but... for the trash bags... the ones they sell in the store are also plastic. so either way we'd be using plastic bags for trash. the biggest difference is that the ones we used were born as store bags and not trash bags.

hehe. am just thinking now of when my bf & i went out yesterday to a local park, only having planned to look at the amusements there, do some geocaching... so i brought one of his backpacks and he brought his over-the-shoulder side pack. ... didn't think we'd end up also going to the snoopy store, a book store, Lush, and Yodobashi. ... it wouldn't have all fit in our bags.

then again we didn't litter any of it either. we still have to sort through the bags but they're all at home and will get either re-used, or put in the proper trash/recycling areas.

[Broomjockey]

but... for the trash bags... the ones they sell in the store are also plastic. so either way we'd be using plastic bags for trash. the biggest difference is that the ones we used were born as store bags and not trash bags.

Well, I wasn't talking about the ones that end up as trash bags, or in the trash. I'm talking about the ones that do things like contain one item, since the SC asked for it, and then gets shucked like a corn husk once they leave the store, and is summarily discarded, or ones in the backs of pick-up trucks, that get sucked out by the wind, or people just throw them out car windows, etc. I use the ones I get as trash bags too, or recycle them. And that's fine, they work well for that. But so many people just go insane with them (re: any story where someone mentions an SC grabbing 20 or more without making a purchase). People tend to be more careful with things they've purchased. Maybe if they had to buy bags for their trash, they wouldn't go through as many.

[mattm04]

My problem with buying you own bags, form an employee issue is that most companies have in their employment contract that they can check bags you bring in for LP. If you walk in empty handed and walk out at the end of your shift and have three items on the receipt and three in the bag that the store provides (either paper or plastic) LP or Management knows you purchased those items. If you bring your own bags and have a few items in it from anther store, it could look like those items were shoplifted. Same issue with customers except in that case their are a lot more hurdles to go through if you suspect they shoplifted or they may sue you.

[PepperElf]

Well, I wasn't talking about the ones that end up as trash bags, or in the trash. I'm talking about the ones that do things like contain one item,

oh yeah those. sometimes i get one of them, but ... often at stores like yodabashi they will also ask if you want to put the item into the bigger bag (if you're buying more than one item). (and no you can't just get a lot of stuff, and just pay for it all at the end, ...they don't do that here in japan except for grocery stores).

[Andara Bledin]

I wish more convenience store clerks would ask before stuffing that single 20oz drink that will probably be gone before I get home into a bag. I can't even begin to count the times I've had to pull my stuff back out of a bag and hand it back over because I really didn't want it but they never gave me a chance to tell them that.

^-.-^

[edible_hat]

I've got a couple of amusing bag stories...

Customer bought three cans of Coke. I asked if he wanted a bag, he said no, I joked "just going to juggle them to your car, then". On his way out he started juggling.

Customer bought four drink bottles, I asked if he wanted a bag, he said "no thanks, I'm practicing for when bags become illegal".

(In Australia, the feds want to bring in a 25 cent per bag levy. the South Australian state government want to ban plastic bags completely. I support the levy idea, there are times when you really need a bag.)

[BlaqueKatt]

I knew I'd find this-Plastic bags are not evil

David Santillo, a marine biologist at Greenpeace, told The Times that bad science was undermining the Government’s case for banning the bags. “It’s very unlikely that many animals are killed by plastic bags,” he said. “The evidence shows just the opposite. We are not going to solve the problem of waste by focusing on plastic bags.

“It doesn’t do the Government’s case any favours if you’ve got statements being made that aren’t supported by the scientific literature that’s out there. With larger mammals it’s fishing gear that’s the big problem. On a global basis plastic bags aren’t an issue. It would be great if statements like these weren’t made.”

[Seshat]

Anyone know where they sell those kinds of bags in the states?

I googled 'shopping bag' and came up with this on the first page - and my Google settings prioritise Australian sites. I'm sure someone without those settings could find more very easily.

http://www.reusablebags.com/

Have fun looking!

[BookstoreEscapee]

I wish more convenience store clerks would ask before stuffing that single 20oz drink that will probably be gone before I get home into a bag. I can't even begin to count the times I've had to pull my stuff back out of a bag and hand it back over because I really didn't want it but they never gave me a chance to tell them that.

^-.-^

I just tell them I don't need a bag. I try to get it out before they even put it in the bag, but if not they can just pull it out. Usually when I stop at the conveniene store it's for something that I'm going to be eating/drinking right away, or it's a quick run for milk, which I can just carry by the handle.

If you bring your own bags and have a few items in it from anther store, it could look like those items were shoplifted. Same issue with customers except in that case their are a lot more hurdles to go through if you suspect they shoplifted or they may sue you.

This is one of the concerns a lot of booksellers expressed when the CEO did his blog on the company's "green" efforts and the plans for the reusable bags. But then, we don't check people's bags, and they come in with backpacks/tote bags and stuff all the time (lots of kids doing homework, etc.).