Plastic Bags Ban

I certainly do think that using fewer plastic bags helps the environment. For one thing, plastic is made largely from oil and we all know that oil resources are running low. Unfortunately, it costs less (and uses less energy and water overall) to make a plastic bag than it does to make a paper bag, so, in that sense, plastic is better than paper. Plastic is more reusable than paper - you can take used plastic bags back to the store (for your own use) about 3 or 4 times on average but paper is biodegradable - used paper (especially unbleached paper printed with eco-friendly inks) can be made into compost even when it cannot be recycled. Paper bags can be recycled much more easily than plastic bags (but at a higher cost in terms of energy and water). It has to be remembered, however, that most plastic and paper finds its way into landfill eventually. Too little is recycled. As you can begin to see, there is no quick and easy answer that says that plastic is better or worse than paper. In the long run, the things that help the environment most (and also help to keep down prices in the stores) is for people to be educated to reuse packaging and for the actual packaging of goods to be reduced and to be made easier to recycle than it is. In the long run, it is about education: educating consumers to use less packaging by recycling it - both through sorting their trash and through re-using perfectly good (if a little crumpled) plastic and paper bags; educating both consumers and manufacturers in accepting more environmental friendly packaging by insisting on only necessary packaging and, where packaging is essential, making it easy to recycle. Many large stores in the UK have their own programs to encourage recycling, for example, Tesco give extra 'green' points on their loyalty card if you bring your own bags. OK, so it's only about a penny return every time I shop, but those pennies add up and it does give me a kind of 'good' feeling when I don't need to use the shop's bags (which must reduce their overheads and have a very small knock-on effect on prices). I do, from time to time, have to accept shop bags because they are cheaper (to me) than buying bags to line the kitchen bin and waste paper baskets around the house!

I heard something about this the other day on the news. I don't remember which news I heard it on, but when it was airing it definitely got my attention. I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, trees are a renewable source providing that forested lots are replanted for the future, on the other hand, those plastic bags do make things easier grocery wise lol. It takes forever for those plastic bags to disintegrate back into nature, and you have to wonder if the chemicals in the plastics won't eventually pollute the ground waters. The news segment I heard about this said that in U.S. we use 1 million of those plastic shopping bags per day, and with all that's used (different sizes, etc) we use 3 billion per year. That's a lot of waste!! This affects wildlife too...last year I had a giant bird that had a bag wrapped around it's feet and it couldn't fly. (You should see the getup I put on to remove the plastic from the bird...but it didn't even try and bite!) I don't know if a ban is the correct way to go, but I like Walmarts plan on recycling them. They have a giant bin outside the store and you drop off your used bags there and they get recycled. If every store did that it would do a great deal to help our environment and waste. Maybe what they should do is charge a 5 cent per bag rate and then you get 5 cents deducted for returned bags. Prior to the 70s they used to do that with the glass pop bottles and nobody ever just threw them away because there was still some value in them. Kind of a win/win situation because the store really isn't putting anything out except the money that was paid in for the bag in the first place. The only one who lost money were those who threw them away rather than redeem their nickel back.

In my place I am aware that the groceries are encouraging the use of clothe bags when buying their groceries. But it has not been strictly implemented and I seldom see many people using it. I guess the plastic problem is so rampant that we are really degrading out environment in a monumental rate. I would hope that soon people would soon be implementing this so that the environment can slowly heal itself. Although I believe that this will take some time and we might not even see the day that we have recovered from the invasion of plastics from our environment.

In doing a bit of research I came across an article from two years ago when San Francisco was the first city to "ban" plastic bags in shopping markets. At that time nearly 180billion plastic bags were being created to serve shopping centers across America. That's a lot of plastic, and we all know a great many of them end up in places they shouldn't. I know that our local store has a place to bring bags back and recyle them. Our trash has to be in plastic bags, so I use the plastic bags I get from shopping to take care of it. I wish we'd go to being like San Fran China town where people can put trash out in their dumpsters without bags. I know it might mean washing bins, but then we might get people to consider what is recycable, what is for the compost pile, and what is garbage. Oh, I have so many thoughts on this issue. In the times when I don't need plastic bags for trash, I have green reusable bags that I take with me. At our one store we get points for bringing bags which ends up saving us money off our grocery bill. My meats come packed in paper, which is recyclable. Perhaps one day we'll make a huge leap forward where trash is concerned. Namaste-Anora

Plastic shopping bags are for the most part unnecessary. Plenty of people are buying and using those reusable cloth bags and many people have used cloth and other market bags for years.

I am all for the ban of plastic grocery bags. I think it is a big waste. Anything that will cut down our use could have positive effects on our environment. I am one of those people that go through the grocery lines with my own cloth bags. I have never even bought one of these bags- I have about 6 that I have gotten for free from various companies. I am also against the use of extra or unnecessary packaging on products sold in stores but this is a whole other discussion!

well, here in the city where i live, at almost any store you go into, the bags are 5 cents each. it is way cheaper just to bring your own, especially if you need a lot of bags like when you are grocery shopping.

We went to the Supermarket this morning, and when we approached the checkout counter the Cashier asked if we had our own bags. When we said," No," she announced that the plastic bags are now .05 cents each. Our groceries filled 3 plastic bags and we carried them to the car. I was surprised at how strong these new bags are, and how much better they are to pack the groceries in. I mentioned to the wife that I prefer these new thicker bags, and we will bring them back to use over and over in the future. Its about time we stopped littering!

I have not watched the news today so I couldn't say. I used to have the big news channels and was up on all this info. As for my own opinion, I think a ban is a good thing. It's a small step, but an important one. We used to shop at a place that charged for plastic bags, maybe one penny a piece. But you could take your groceries home for free in a box that they provided. Most times, they were big shipping boxes that the food arrived at the store in.

Hi crazyredhead...I too have some of the cloth bags but I mostly use the plastic bags when I go to the grocery store. Then we reuse all of them for garbage bags so we haven't bought garbage bags in over 10 years. I haven't heard of this bag ban, but I have to ask if they put a ban on the bags in the grocery store then what will people use for their garbage bags? Does that mean that the next ban is on garbage bags? What will we use to dispose of our garbage?

I prefer to use shopping bags. It might be a bit costly to buy one at first but we can use it multiple times. Plus, we will help to reduce usage of plastic bags when shopping. Plastic took years to compost. I think it take more than 600 years. This is unhealthy to nature and create more pollution. It is easy to use and cheap but think of the consequences.

yup it is right to use the clothbags and paper bags because we all know that plsctic bags are how much harmful. they are non bio degradable and does not decomposes easily by microorganism so it is yery dangerous so u avoid giving the costumers plastics and request them to bring clothbags this way u will help your earth to keep it clean

That's a very good idea! To get rid of those non-biodegradable trash or at least lessen it will be a big help our environment. I hope that they push this ban worldwide!

firstly i aggree with you intirely because it takes 50odd thousends years to degrade so it is a big cost to out enviroment but my biggest issue is what wil we use intead? plastic life long bags, you forget when you go to the supermarket, paper bags cant hold to much wait and so plastic bags is just admitedly the easy option.