5 ms·

I'm not sold on people reusing the 'durable' bags a sufficient number of times to even outperform their plastic counterparts. I suspect the durable bags will b

I'm not sold on people reusing the 'durable' bags a sufficient number of times to even outperform their plastic counterparts. I suspect the durable bags will become damaged or worn out to the point where they're replaced before even break even in the majority of cases. I would prefer that the old, cheap, paper bags (without the handles) were a free at checkout option. If plastic bags are offered the laws should be changed to require that they are sold __at cost__ not __for profit__. Currently this is just a huge money grab that every business is doing where I live (WA state); including force bundling unwanted bags for online orders. I would like the option of natural wax coated paper spoons that can stand up to a yogurt cup or bowl or two of cereal. That takes care of the 80% use case of grab and go breakfast at places. Leave my dang straws alone, or at least have that tiny bit of material made out of a plastic that some bacteria can breakdown but which is otherwise an OK plastic. Convenience store cups and pre-packaged foods would also be good things to look at using such a plastic on.

actionfromafar 4y ago
Plastic bags do not genererate a lot of carbon emissions, but the do cause a lot of problems in waterways. Even in places where there is almost no littering, sure enough, there are plastic bags or there remnants just about everywhere if you look for them. In other places it's just a shit-show, which caused them to be banned.
tmerc 4y ago
Nothing is stopping you from buying and reusing paper bags until they wear out. They cost like $0.05.
- mjevans 4y ago
  Handled ones are sold for $0.40 / bag (offhand, I purchased like 10 of them when this insanity started), and I've thus far reused most of the bags in the set 4x, one 5x, and one had a handle failure early in life. I'm convinced that paper, even used once and tossed into a landfill, is better for the environment, and that the effort involved in reusing the bags is not worth creating a more durable bag that can't instead be reused as packing paper, a bin liner, or some other task before it joins the long term molecular reprocessing cycle. If the waste stream company didn't charge extra for a kitchen scraps bin (which is co-mingled with yard waste, that I refuse to create) I'd gladly properly dispose of used bags in that container instead, along with food scraps.

actionfromafar 4y ago

Plastic bags do not genererate a lot of carbon emissions, but the do cause a lot of problems in waterways. Even in places where there is almost no littering, sure enough, there are plastic bags or there remnants just about everywhere if you look for them. In other places it's just a shit-show, which caused them to be banned.

tmerc 4y ago

Nothing is stopping you from buying and reusing paper bags until they wear out. They cost like $0.05.

mjevans 4y ago
Handled ones are sold for $0.40 / bag (offhand, I purchased like 10 of them when this insanity started), and I've thus far reused most of the bags in the set 4x, one 5x, and one had a handle failure early in life. I'm convinced that paper, even used once and tossed into a landfill, is better for the environment, and that the effort involved in reusing the bags is not worth creating a more durable bag that can't instead be reused as packing paper, a bin liner, or some other task before it joins the long term molecular reprocessing cycle. If the waste stream company didn't charge extra for a kitchen scraps bin (which is co-mingled with yard waste, that I refuse to create) I'd gladly properly dispose of used bags in that container instead, along with food scraps.