Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Grocery bags
I've been reading several bloggers who are disdainful and/or bemused about the ban on plastic bags in grocery stores in San Francisco. For a fairly rare moment, I am in agreement with SF. In Dutchess County (NY), all the grocery stores I frequent have encouraged using cloth bags for the last decade. It actually makes lots of sense because they hold more, are easier to carry, can be carried on shoulders so you can hoist several at once easily, are washable, are much easier to pack comfortably, and - oh yes - they're tons better for our uber mother (earth). I hate the rickety thin tiny plastic bags most stores use, don't you?? And don't you love it when useful ideas jibe with 'hot' ideas?!

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Permalink | | posted by jau at 11:57 AM


3 more:
Blogger Barb the Evil Genius — at 8:12 PM, March 28, 2007:
Around here, plastic grocery bags can either be recycled or you put recycling in them and put them out on the curb. I also reuse them to put scooped litter in (too much information?) since just a garbage bag for litter is not strong enough. My grocery store also sells grocery bags, but then we can fill about 10 grocery bags with one shopping expedition.
 

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Blogger Laura — at 2:18 AM, March 29, 2007:
Our plastic grocery bags are also recycled...our city picks up our recycling every week (we have a huge container, as big as our regular trash container) so I'm not sure what San Francisco's "issue" is when recycling seems to be a viable solution. Before our city began its recycling program, our grocery store had containers to collect and recycle the plastic bags and I would return the used bags to the store on each trip.

I'm all for doing things that are good to the earth, but I favor changing practices through public persuasion, rather than legislation, or through positive legislative solutions -- such as providing recycling -- rather than banning. The desire to ban everything from light bulbs to trans fats to plastic bags these days makes me a little nervous...who knows what's next?

Best wishes, Laura
 

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Blogger jau — at 1:28 PM, March 29, 2007:
I agree wholeheartedly, Laura, about change occurring through persuasion and/or public choice. It's bad enough when parents order kids around "just because" but at least parents are supposedly wiser than their children. Who's to say legislators are wiser than the rest of us, let alone as wise?!
 

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