Paper Bag RANT October 12, 2018
@lookatdesktop (27129)
Dallas, Texas
October 12, 2018 4:30pm CST
She looked at me like I was crazy when I asked for Paper instead of Plastic at the grocery checkout stand.
Nobody asked me, "Would you prefer a paper or a plastic sack for your groceries?" - nobody asked. I had to ask the nice lady at the register to please place my bread & butter in a paper bag instead. She was all ready to bag it in plastic because they are used to nobody asking for paper bags.
It has come to my immediate attention that we live in a world of plastic bags that people seem to think is okay and they push plastic on us day in day out.
If I have a choice between paper and plastic I will chose paper. You can use paper sacks for many things, but more to the point, paper bags decompose and do not destroy our oceans.
Crazy about the environment. Guilty as charged.
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11 people like this
13 responses
@marguicha (215899)
• Chile
12 Oct 18
I´m glad you did. I am using only special bags that we use and recicle now at the supermarket. They don´t give us plastic bags anymore unless it is for meat.
2 people like this
@marguicha (215899)
• Chile
12 Oct 18
@lookatdesktop I think that many things that the US call freedom is really debauchery (I looked at this word in the dictionary, I hope it is a good translation).
1 person likes this
@lookatdesktop (27129)
• Dallas, Texas
12 Oct 18
I wish that the US did the same.
2 people like this
@lookatdesktop (27129)
• Dallas, Texas
12 Oct 18
@marguicha , Freedom to mess things up, indeed. How very appropritate.
Merriam Webster has this set of definitions to look at for that word.
extreme indulgence in bodily pleasures and especially sexual pleasures : behavior involving sex, drugs, alcohol, etc. that is often considered immoral; seduction from virtue or duty; bad or immoral behavior that involves sex, drugs, alcohol, etc.… See the
1 person likes this
@JohnRoberts (109857)
• Los Angeles, California
12 Oct 18
I grew up with paper bags. It was paper for generations.I don't know why we can't go back to paper.
2 people like this
@lookatdesktop (27129)
• Dallas, Texas
12 Oct 18
I usually try to remember to ask for paper, but sometimes, when I am in a hurry, I forget to ask. ALDI stores in Dallas offer paper and plastic bags, you pay for each bag that you use or bring your own bags. They do not bag your groceries there. They in fact, have you do that at an area that provides a surface for shoppers to bag their own or reuse some some of their empty boxes that the store uses to display a lot of their items.
1 person likes this
@wolfgirl569 (95803)
• Marion, Ohio
12 Oct 18
Some stores are starting to get rid of them thankfully.
1 person likes this
@wolfgirl569 (95803)
• Marion, Ohio
12 Oct 18
@lookatdesktop I do like having some around for certain things. I use them until they are worn out. But there is other ways I could cover plants and do things I use them for if I didnt have them.
1 person likes this
@lookatdesktop (27129)
• Dallas, Texas
12 Oct 18
I am happy about that. The big retailers in the large cities seem to think that the customers would not like shopping in their stores if not for those plastic bags. People seem to want them even though they are practically useless, unable to hold very much in each bag and a total ecological disaster just waiting to happen.
@lookatdesktop (27129)
• Dallas, Texas
12 Oct 18
@wolfgirl569 , as long as you find ways to use them is lots better than most people who just toss them in the garbage and be done with them. Without giving it a second thought. 
@akalinus (40633)
• United States
12 Oct 18
@lookatdesktop Apparently, plastic has no value for recycling anymore. Our park used to collect plastic for recycling, now we have to put it in with the garbage.
1 person likes this
@lookatdesktop (27129)
• Dallas, Texas
12 Oct 18
Plastic bags have their purposes, but due to the fact that we do not properly know how to or as a species, care about recycling it ends up in a landfill or the oceans and that is just what happens. I use plastic bags for many purposes too and we make sure they end up in a recycle bin. Once in a blue moon, I find some of them placed by mistake in the regular trash can. I pull them back out and put them in a blue recycle tote.
@lookatdesktop (27129)
• Dallas, Texas
12 Oct 18
@akalinus , Perhaps the costs for the required technology is in excess of the available funding or perhaps the enormous amounts of plastic bags is excessive in volume as to be impossible to manage. In any case, There is a good PDF article to look at from Eureka Recycling for you to look at.
http://sites.fitnyc.edu/depts/sustainabilityatfit/Recycling_Plastic_Co.pdf
1 person likes this
@lookatdesktop (27129)
• Dallas, Texas
12 Oct 18
Plastic has a counter product also. A bio-degradable plastic substitute.
Colorado State University polymer chemists have taken another step toward a future of high-performance, biorenewable, biodegradable plastics.
1 person likes this
@CarolDM (203451)
• Nashville, Tennessee
12 Oct 18
@lookatdesktop That is interesting.
1 person likes this
@ptrikha_2 (45567)
• India
13 Oct 18
We now have cloth bags or very thick Plastic bags here. Thi net bata are banned. But i don't like paper bags as most are not so strong and start tearing apart.
1 person likes this
@changjiangzhibin89 (16547)
• China
13 Oct 18
The lady at the register took bagging things in plastic for granted,so she looked at you with curious eyes.I really admire the way you are an environmentally conscious consumer all the time.
1 person likes this
@kareemadivina (1230)
• Philippines
13 Oct 18
That's so nice of you to take of our environment.We should encourage the use of paper bags to reduce the use of plastics which is detrimental to our environment.
1 person likes this
@PatZAnthony (14752)
• Charlotte, North Carolina
18 Oct 18
We should start a movement to all ask for paper. That's it! Think our household will start today.
We often bring reuseable bags, but paper is nice and always easy to use again and again.
@lookatdesktop (27129)
• Dallas, Texas
12 Oct 18
Yes, indeed. She gave me a large paper sack. They are well made and tend not to tear so easily if properly handled.
@arunima25 (85689)
• Bangalore, India
13 Oct 18
I always carry my own cloth/ jute bag for shopping. Plastic bags or plastic items are banned in our city but still people use it though if found they might be fined.
1 person likes this
