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For those commenting about grocery bags, this is not about those. It is about those little thin plastic bags we use for produce and meat. Paper makes a lot of s

For those commenting about grocery bags, this is not about those. It is about those little thin plastic bags we use for produce and meat. Paper makes a lot of sense there, though you can’t just scan the barcode through a paper bag. Those thin plastic bags are too likely to get dropped or blow away and get into the environment where they clog up waterways and choke animals. They end up in oceans where turtles mistake them for jellyfish.

koolba 4y ago
Paper makes no sense for things that can leak. Which is the vast majority of the use cases for these bags. That’s everything from meat or poultry to a pack of berries. One bad pack or bump on the way home and it’s soaked through to all the rest of your groceries.
- bombcar 4y ago
  There is a very wax-impregnated paper (maybe it's plastic impregnated) that works pretty well for meats, at least. The butcher wraps the meat in it, and it can leak but not through the paper (usually through the cracks).
  - orev 4y ago
    Most meats in a grocery store aren’t bought from the butcher directly, they’re pre-packed in a styrofoam tray then covered with plastic wrap. The seal is far from water tight, so the meat liquid leaks out on all the other packages sitting on the shelf, and then in your cart and bags/everything else after you pick it. You need a bag for these, otherwise you have cross-contamination everywhere.
    - bombcar 4y ago
      I've noticed some (but not all) meats are becoming more and more "factory packaged" with tight (and sometimes even resealable) bags that are more like ziplock. I suspect as the number of grocery stores with actual butcher/deli counters continues to decline, we'll see more and more of that, especially as leaking into a plastic grocery bag is annoying but leaking into your reusable bag is really annoying.
bombcar 4y ago
The produce bags are probably less likely to blow away, since you don't "unwrap" whatever was in it until you're in your house. I've seen many a garbage bag tumbling along the road, but I can't recall seeing a produce bag.

koolba 4y ago

Paper makes no sense for things that can leak. Which is the vast majority of the use cases for these bags. That’s everything from meat or poultry to a pack of berries. One bad pack or bump on the way home and it’s soaked through to all the rest of your groceries.

bombcar 4y ago
There is a very wax-impregnated paper (maybe it's plastic impregnated) that works pretty well for meats, at least. The butcher wraps the meat in it, and it can leak but not through the paper (usually through the cracks).
- orev 4y ago
  Most meats in a grocery store aren’t bought from the butcher directly, they’re pre-packed in a styrofoam tray then covered with plastic wrap. The seal is far from water tight, so the meat liquid leaks out on all the other packages sitting on the shelf, and then in your cart and bags/everything else after you pick it. You need a bag for these, otherwise you have cross-contamination everywhere.
  - bombcar 4y ago
    I've noticed some (but not all) meats are becoming more and more "factory packaged" with tight (and sometimes even resealable) bags that are more like ziplock. I suspect as the number of grocery stores with actual butcher/deli counters continues to decline, we'll see more and more of that, especially as leaking into a plastic grocery bag is annoying but leaking into your reusable bag is really annoying.

bombcar 4y ago

The produce bags are probably less likely to blow away, since you don't "unwrap" whatever was in it until you're in your house. I've seen many a garbage bag tumbling along the road, but I can't recall seeing a produce bag.