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That's a very selective statistic from a government department. How many "reusable" bags are sold every year? Each one weighs 50-100x more than the old bags an

That's a very selective statistic from a government department. How many "reusable" bags are sold every year? Each one weighs 50-100x more than the old bags and I guarantee they aren't used proportionally more times. The statistic given doesn't even cover most businesses. It only covers the major supermarkets - who only offer single use bags in online deliveries and make everybody else buy a much more expensive reusable bag. Pretty much every small business still offers a 10p bag.

bluefirebrand 3y ago
> How many "reusable" bags are sold every year? My question is how many "reusable" bags are being used once and then thrown out, effectively becoming massively wasteful single use bags? My guess is a lot. Maybe not as many as single use plastic bags, but they must be even worse for the landfills, surely... > who only offer single use bags in online deliveries My mom gets online grocery deliveries from walmart and everything comes in "reusable" bags. They never take them back or anything so every time she gets groceries they just accumulate. It's to the point where she's using them as bin liners just like single use plastic because she needs to get rid of them just the same. You could argue she should stop ordering from them, or there should be consequences for her. Maybe you're right. Maybe people should have thought about other possible downstream consequences of banning single use plastic bags before enacting such a ban. I don't think "this could cause even more pollution in the long run" ever even crossed their dimwitted minds. Too focused on the short term "we reduced single use plastics by 90%" KPI. Government policy by MBA.
- martycon 3y ago
  If you take plastic bags and stuff them into a pillow case and then seal the pillow case with a zipper, you can make plastic bag pillows. The more bags inside, the stiffer the cushioning. Reuse is important too.
milliams 3y ago
> Each one weighs 50-100x more than the old bags and I guarantee they aren't used proportionally more times. Previously I'd get a bag from the shop which would be used that one time. Now, the "bag for life" I own has been used for years already. That's easily more than "50-100x more".
- erik_seaberg 3y ago
  Reused for food? Is it dishwasher safe?
fallinghawks 3y ago
It seemed crazy to me. We (California) banned the thin/light grocery bag, then covid happened and all takeout food came in the heavy reusable bags. I didn't do a lot of takeout but still ended up with way too many, and had no use for since I had already shifted to a reusable basket for groceries. And they are as you said so much heavier than the thin type, so we're only creating more plastic waste. There are plastic film recyclers. An expose last year showed that some US retailers with plastic film recycling bins (IIRC Target was one) were just sending the contents to landfills, but others are legit. Trex, which makes wood-look plastic decking, seems to have set up a recycling program partnering with a number of grocery stores. There's a downloadable list[1] online. [1] https://nextrex.com/jsfapp/cdocs/20231201223810_9_jsfwd_493_q2_1.pdf https://nextrex.com/jsfapp/cdocs/20231201223810_9_jsfwd_493_...

bluefirebrand 3y ago

> How many "reusable" bags are sold every year? My question is how many "reusable" bags are being used once and then thrown out, effectively becoming massively wasteful single use bags? My guess is a lot. Maybe not as many as single use plastic bags, but they must be even worse for the landfills, surely... > who only offer single use bags in online deliveries My mom gets online grocery deliveries from walmart and everything comes in "reusable" bags. They never take them back or anything so every time she gets groceries they just accumulate. It's to the point where she's using them as bin liners just like single use plastic because she needs to get rid of them just the same. You could argue she should stop ordering from them, or there should be consequences for her. Maybe you're right. Maybe people should have thought about other possible downstream consequences of banning single use plastic bags before enacting such a ban. I don't think "this could cause even more pollution in the long run" ever even crossed their dimwitted minds. Too focused on the short term "we reduced single use plastics by 90%" KPI. Government policy by MBA.

martycon 3y ago
If you take plastic bags and stuff them into a pillow case and then seal the pillow case with a zipper, you can make plastic bag pillows. The more bags inside, the stiffer the cushioning. Reuse is important too.

milliams 3y ago

> Each one weighs 50-100x more than the old bags and I guarantee they aren't used proportionally more times. Previously I'd get a bag from the shop which would be used that one time. Now, the "bag for life" I own has been used for years already. That's easily more than "50-100x more".

erik_seaberg 3y ago
Reused for food? Is it dishwasher safe?

fallinghawks 3y ago

It seemed crazy to me. We (California) banned the thin/light grocery bag, then covid happened and all takeout food came in the heavy reusable bags. I didn't do a lot of takeout but still ended up with way too many, and had no use for since I had already shifted to a reusable basket for groceries. And they are as you said so much heavier than the thin type, so we're only creating more plastic waste. There are plastic film recyclers. An expose last year showed that some US retailers with plastic film recycling bins (IIRC Target was one) were just sending the contents to landfills, but others are legit. Trex, which makes wood-look plastic decking, seems to have set up a recycling program partnering with a number of grocery stores. There's a downloadable list[1] online. [1] https://nextrex.com/jsfapp/cdocs/20231201223810_9_jsfwd_493_q2_1.pdf https://nextrex.com/jsfapp/cdocs/20231201223810_9_jsfwd_493_...