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Plastic bags are an interesting example. There was a study a little while back that plastic bag bans at stores resulted in an overall increase use of plastic.
by zdragnar 4y ago
Plastic bags are an interesting example. There was a study a little while back that plastic bag bans at stores resulted in an overall increase use of plastic.
The thinking was that people reused the thin store bags at least once (i.e. as a small trash liner for a work desk). Without those as an option, people switched to buying plastic bags, which were thicker and used much more material.
Personally, we always opt for plastic bags at the store, and they always get reused once if not many times. Paper bags just don't seem to hold up as well for some reason.
- tedivm 4y agoThe problem there is that the law didn't define "reusable" bags well enough, so stores just made slightly thicker plastic bags and called them reusable even though they really aren't. As a result people ended up using the same amount of bags but with far more plastic.
- cptskippy 4y ago> The problem there is that the law didn't define "reusable" bags well enough There is no one law, this has occurred independently in municipalities across the globe.
- smileysteve 4y agoAnecdotally, the thicker ones are very reusable; but consumers (the 90 percent) are ignorant about reusing and recycling.
- Tagbert 4y agoI see the benefit of those heavier “reusable” bags as coming from the fact that they are less likely to blow away and get into the waterways. If you drop one it is more likely to be picked up and put in to the trash instead of ending up in a turtle’s breakfast.
- Workaccount2 4y agoHere in NJ we have a pretty strict plastic bag ban. It's all gone pretty smooth except for grocery delivery services. Instead of using one time use thin plastic bags, they now have to use reusable bags. That they never reuse. So places like our company that get office foodstuffs delivered weekly, end up throwing away stacks of thick plastic bags. Apparently though the legislature is working on a fix for this.
- _glass 4y agoIn Germany we switched to paper bags. And I really use tote bags, as most people I see in the shops. But why not just use paper bags?
- AlgorithmicTime 4y ago
- jhasse 4y agorain
- _glass 4y agoI am living in rainy Hamburg, and it's okay, right?
- zdragnar 4y agoPaper bags available around here don't always have handles. As a result, you either can't carry as many (one hand holds a bag from the bottom) or you crumple or tear the bag at the top accidentally. Also, they tend to not hold as much weight as plastic bags. What's worse is that they're harder to reuse. Since they aren't resistant to water, there are fewer other uses that they are good for.
- thenewthotness 4y agoPaper manufacturing and recycling isn’t carbon neutral either
- brnt 4y agoI used to use the single use bags I got while grocery shopping as trash bags. Perhaps not coincidentally, grocery purchases and trash production kept a pretty even pace. Now I have to buy my trash bags, which are not used twice and used in the same amount as the earlier bags. Also, I used to get much stuff unpacked, the bag was there to not throw a bunch of loose carrots, chicken legs and tomatoes in my carrying bag. Now, nearly everything comes prepackaged, which is single use obviously. I don't see how my plastic consumption is down. I guestimate it's up.