I like plastic bags

[Randomguy]

They are incredibly handy.  I take things to work in plastic bags, they still work if wet, I also use them for garbage bags.

I don't want them to go away.  I want straws to go away, I think straws are stupid.  "Yeah, there is noooooooo other way to get liquids into my big fat stomach, I need a straw."

[Kirby]

I read an article that says when cities ban plastic bags at grocery stores, the sales of plastic bags go up, and since the for sale bags tend to be higher quality - you don't save nearly as much plastic as you'd expect.   But everyone feels very ecological carrying reusable tote bags.

https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2019/04/09/711181385/are-plastic-bag-bans-garbage

[petitepedal ★]

Unfortunately many people with disabilities need straws...my friend Melody can't drink from a glass or cup anymore ?

[Further]

2 minutes ago, petitepedal said:

Unfortunately many people with disabilities need straws...my friend Melody can't drink from a glass or cup anymore ?

My wife is the same   

[donkpow]

[Ralphie ★]

39 minutes ago, donkpow said:

This is all Dustin Hoffmann's fault ( I don't know the other guy's name! :D)

 

 

[bikeman564™]

I have a large plastic bag of smaller plastic bags I use them for trash cans.

[Ralphie ★]

2 hours ago, bikeman564™ said:

I have a large plastic bag of smaller plastic bags I use them for trash cans.

Same here and I use them for dog dirt, so that seems apropos. 

[Razors Edge ★]

12 hours ago, Randomguy said:

They are incredibly handy.  I take things to work in plastic bags, they still work if wet, I also use them for garbage bags.

I don't want them to go away.  I want straws to go away, I think straws are stupid.  "Yeah, there is noooooooo other way to get liquids into my big fat stomach, I need a straw." 

I like plastic bags and I like straws.  It really isn't solely about whether folks "like" them or not, but more along what the cost is of using them versus other options.

It's interesting to look at how I shop for groceries/household stuff.  We go to Costco, Target, Trader Joes, and Harris Teeter for the vast majority of our stuff. 

At Costco, you essentially have ZERO bags being used (they will give you all the cardboard boxes you want), and I have my "cooler" bag and a couple sturdy reusable bags with me in the car trunk that I load directly from the cart. 

At Target, they essentially have the GOLD STANDARD of plastic bags, which I will happily use if I don't remember my reusable ones.

At TJs (and Whole Foods & MOMs), they do paper bags - often double bagged - so I generally get them to fill just one bag with everything if I forgot a reusable or if we need new bags for our recycling. We use the paper bags for both the newspaper & cardboard recycling stuff and for the kitchen cans & plastic recycling stuff.

At Harris Teeter (like Giant, Safeway, Walmart, Home Depot, etc), they use the crappiest and quickest to rip bags, so I generally HATE their bags.  Maybe good for poop patrol (but seem too holey for me), so they end up being the ones that get "saved" for other uses that don't require a well made bag.  For me, it is at HT and similar grocery stores where bringing a reusable bag is the BEST use of the stronger bags.  The reusable bags pack much better (like paper bags), and they also are infinitely stronger than the cheap plastic ones.

So, in general, I find it is way too easy to accumulate a shit ton of the crappiest sort of plastic bags, and the better ones (like Target's) are incredibly handy.

Luckily, I have no kids nor grandkids, so really the environmental impact is only a mild nuisance for me now.  Sure, it will be a super shit show when I'm older, but that's some Millennials problem to fix.

[Wilbur ★]

13 hours ago, Randomguy said:

They are incredibly handy.  I take things to work in plastic bags, they still work if wet, I also use them for garbage bags.

I don't want them to go away.  I want straws to go away, I think straws are stupid.  "Yeah, there is noooooooo other way to get liquids into my big fat stomach, I need a straw."

I have folding fabric covered boxes the grocery stores sell.  Some are insulated for cold or frozen goods.  I don't miss plastic at all.

[Randomguy]

On 7/17/2019 at 9:49 PM, Kirby said:

But everyone feels very ecological carrying reusable tote bags.

This the part that is so wrong.  Htf am I supposed to know when I am going to go to the store?  I am not, so I am supposed to carry bags with me everywhere just in case I go to a store?  Screw that, I am showing up a the store and demanding bags like a normal person.  It isn't like I have a car out back with a ton of bags inside, and I use those plastic bags, all that I get.

And another damn thing...  Last night I went to Whole Foods (which I dislike) for fuji apples (which I do like), and bought some things on sale.  I come outside with my paper bags and to a torrential downpour.  I decide to walk home in it with no umbrella because it is one hundred fucking percent humidity and rain on top of that, and it is 90+ degrees out, so why not, right?  I was lucky to make it the quarter mile home without the bags disintegrating completely.  Any longer and I wouldn't have had bags at all.

Plastic is a better option in most circumstances.

[The_Karen_Cooper_Incident]

51 minutes ago, Randomguy said:

This the part that is so wrong.

Yup, I freak'in HATE reusable bags.  We have a million of the fuckers.  95% of them are from Wegmans, which I hate almost as much as reusable bags.

They fucking suck.  

Shu Fuck

[Ralphie ★]

4 hours ago, Shu Fang said:

Yup, I freak'in HATE reusable bags.  We have a million of the fuckers.  95% of them are from Wegmans, which I hate almost as much as reusable bags.

They fucking suck.  

Shu Fuck

I also do not like them!

[12string]

That study has a ton of holes in it.

Lots of comparing apples to tires and leaving out important aspects of the big picture.

It summarized as people buy worse bags to replace the shopping bags and it takes dozens and dozens of reuses to make reuseable bags effective.

What they didn't say was - how many "worse" bags?  A week of regular shopping could easily net 20 bags.  10 of which get used for trash or poop and 10 get used to clog up a whale.  And what about coming up with better trash and poop bags?

Who doesn't go to the store "dozens and dozens"  of times in a year - heck, even a month?

And the BIG miss - what about just not using bags?  You just walked miles around the store holding those 4 items, you need a bag to get them to the car?  Other than the  kitchen, do you NEED trash bags?  Wash a can once in a while if it needs it.

[MickinMD ★]

I like plastic bags, too.

I most like the insulated 2 foot x 1.5 foot x 10 inch zippered bags Costco sells for about $7.99.  There are some stores where you have to pay for bags (like Aldi) and I just take  one of those big bags into those stores (I have a few) and also place items from stores where I use a cart into those bags when I get to my car.

Even in 90F+ weather, that bag keeps stuff cold for a couple hours if you have a couple frozen foods inside (that won't be ruined if they thaw a little) and I've keep 4 footlong subs hot for 2 hours in 35F weather when we waited to eat them because we got the time for watching a nephew's football tryouts wrong.

[jsharr ★]

[12string]

My wife even brings her mesh produce bags to the store.  We have collapsible tupperware for  dining out.  This stuff can be done pretty easily