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Paper or Plastic? Mass shoppers say 'Neither'
By JohnAKeith on Thu, 07/29/2010 - 10:11pm
Either Massachusetts' shoppers are using more reusable bags when visiting supermarkets or they're just carting away less food.
Yesterday, the Department of Environmental Protection and the Massachusetts Food Association announced that Massachusetts consumers used 25 percent fewer disposable paper and plastic bags this year than in 2007.
As part of the voluntary initiative, 12 supermarket chains, comprised of 384 stores representing over two-thirds of the industry in Massachusetts, have been participating in the effort by tracking annual paper and plastic bag usage.
The goal is to achieve a reduction of 33 percent by 2013.
(All I know is that I have about 30 cloth bags sitting in my front closet ... I either never have one with me or I end up buying more food than I expected and need more than one bag ...)
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Comments
Sry about title
I tried to think of a cleverer title but couldn't come up with one.
A good idea
Went to a suburban supermarket recently and there was a sign on the door asking if you remembered your reusable bags. Of course I hadn't, so went back and grabbed them out of the car trunk. Unfortunately I live more than 200 feet from the local supermarket where I regularly get in line and go "Damn, forgot those stupid green bags again!"
Most of the stores in Greater Roslindale have those signs
Which I know because whenever I take the kidlet shopping, she asks me if I remembered to bring our bags, to which she knows the answer (kid's going to Harvard Law, you betcha), since I'm obviously not holding any and then we try to figure out how many we have, including the one I always tell her is in the trunk but we can't use it because it holds the Turtle Wax and the cloth things I use for waxing the car. I think we're up to five and, no, I don't think we've ever actually used any for shopping, as opposed to just taking up space under a cabinet in the dining room.
Paper or Plastic
In Marlborough, I still get paper bags. We save them and put various paper waste in the bags to be picked up for recycling. And how many reusable bags do people need to get a week's worth of groceries?
Less than the plastic or even paper ones
I can fit more in my reusable bags than the paper bags, and certainly more than the plastic ones.
Not only do reusable bags fit
Not only do reusable bags fit more due to the shape, theyre extremely strong.
I find that 4 reusable bags are more than enough for my big shopping. I estimate it would have been 15, maybe up to 20 plastic bags. I dont trust paper bags after having the handle rip on me on more than one occasion.
Even though consumers are lowering their usage, I still think we need a bag tax, like DC. 5 cents a bag for paper or plastic, money goes to cleaning up rivers.
I also wonder why more stores dont simply take that initiative on their own and stop giving away free bags. No, it's not unamerican, millions of people who shop at BJs and costco and sams club go without bags every day. Ive never seen anyone at costco ask for a plastic bag.
A supermarket that does that
The PriceRite on River Street in Hyde Park not only charges 10 cents a bag (but they're big bags), they make customers bag their own stuff.
Random pet peeve rant: on the
Random pet peeve rant: on the rare occasions when I forget my canvas bags, I am always amazed at how little the baggers put in each plastic bag. Doesn't matter the store or the location-- they all seem to be taught to put no more than three items in a bag, no matter how much they weigh. You end up walking out with 10 bag handles wrapped around your fingers to carry 14 items.
Don't even get me started on
Don't even get me started on the morons at CVS. I occasionally forget the rollup bag I keep in my purse and pick up a soda, a few toiletries and a couple other things and the stupid twunts always want to double bag the thing! It's not like I'm buying a freakin' anvil. The bag ain't going to break with a 12 oz soda and bag of doritos in it.
CVS is also the worst
In the game where you say "I don't need a bag" as the transaction starts, and they say "Ok," scan stuff, and on automatic pilot start to put things in a bag anyway.
I understand they're in the habit, but maybe it's a habit that management could encourage them to break. This is one case where "greenwashing" might help them sell a bigger policy change. "Oh, we're going green, and we won't give you a bag unless you ask for it."
But half the time if they
But half the time if they don't do that the customer gets upset with them.
I think that store managment needs to educate baggers and cashiers about reusable bags. Most of the time when I have my own bags the bagger is unhappy about it or I have to beg them to use them or they have already started putting things in plastic bags before I can get the reusable bags in their hands.
Whit
true dat
But what makes CVS exceptionally frustrating is that they actually have a little card you can buy for 99 cents and scan it every time you use your own bag. Every fourth time you get a coupon for a buck off. I think my last count was 60+ times I've used the card so I've more than made up for the price of the card. The employees should know about the program, encourage people to use it, and stop wasting so many bags. Last week I had to restrain myself when the cashier scanned my bag card then put things in a plastic bag as I was bringing out my own!
Stop and Shop
Gives a 5 cent "coupon" for re-usable bags. My girlfriend and I use 5 re-usable bags to carry our groceries, so that is 25 cents a week, times (roughly) 52 weeks is about $13 we save a year. That's enough to buy ourselves a 12 pack to celebrate not using plastic bags (and of course we would recycle the bottles and cardboard.)
But the reusable bags hold too much
I am pretty good with reusable bags - I would say I use them 90% of the time.
I have a female friend who hates using them because they end up being too
heavy for her to carry.
Reusable bags live in the car
After many years of bringing my own bag(s), my local market knows better than to ask me "paper or plastic?". Occasionally, my bags get misplaced, and I end up with this wicked guilt trip when I use a plastic bag. ;-) Roche Bros (Westboro) is nice in that they will donate 5 cents to a charity for every reusable bag used.
Need the plastic bags...
If I didn't get the plastic bags at the supermarket, I'd have to buy them for my kitchen garbage can and to pick up after the dogs.
For those of you who don't use supermarket bags for your kitchen and waste baskets, what do you use?
Even with using green bags
Even with using green bags all the time I still have a collection of old plastic bags from years ago. You can also take some from the recycle your bag box at the supermarket.
Yup, I always take bags from
Yup, I always take bags from the bag recycle bin when I forget to bring my own.
Or if I'm driving (which is rare -- only if I needed to drive somewhere else, and happened to pass by a supermarket), I'll get everything loose with no bags. Bags aren't necessary when the groceries are in the shopping cart or the car.
kitchen wastebasket bags
I use whatever brand of 'Tall Kitchen Bags' is on sale at Family Dollar. Supermarket plastic bags aren't big enough for this purpose.
I'm glad I"m not the only one...
...who owns a doo doo load of re-usable bags, but way too often keeps forgetting to take them to the damn store! Not a total loss though as I use them for tote bags for all sorts-o-stuff. Plus I use paper grocery bags for recycling the crapload of junk mail I always get plus some crap I take home from work.
I love reuseable bags
I never used them in the past, but my girlfriend inspired me to start doing so, and now I really dig it. They definitely hold more, are sturdier, and plenty convenient when you keep them in the trunk (and once you get used to retrieving them when you shop). Target also gives you back 5 cents per bag, which is cool. We do occasionally get paper bags, only because our town requires paper recycleables to be put in them for pickup.
Add a bungee cord ...
And you have an instant extra pannier for a bike, too. They are much easier to securely tie down than the plastic bags, and their regular, boxy shape permits multiple bags to fit on a rack.
Procedure: fill bags such that the top can be rolled down or folded fully over. Place on rack such that the wide section is across the rack. Bungee over and through the straps, looping the straps a couple times if necessary. Then place the next on and do the same. I can get two to three bags on this way, over the top of my panniers.
Tip
I remember to bring my green bags by putting my nickle recyclables in them to redeem before I leave the house.
Longer handles on reusable bags
I have the re-usable bag assortment. I love the longer handles. I can put one or two on my shoulder, carry one or two, and make only one trip into the house with all my shopping. I've also picked up the refrigerated/cooler lined reusable bag from Stop & Rob. Using the self-scan thing lets me pack all the cold stuff in the cooler bag and breeze through the self check-out lines. So when I'm in my most fowl of moods, I can food shop for as much ice cream and chocolate as I want without any human interaction.
My biggest complaint is where does everyone store the darn bags when not in use??
Bag storage
We have a LOT of bags, so there's overflow all over the mud room, but the main place that we store them is on the back of our front door. I have one of those Christmas wreath holders that fits over the top of the door, with an upturned loop about a foot down from the top. It will hold at least 3 or 4 bags - plus, when they're right at the door like that, it's been much easier to train ourselves to grab a bag on the way out to shop. (We still occasionally manage to forget, but it's pretty rare nowadays.)
I also have one of those Envirosax nylon bags that rolls up to a really small packet - not much bulkier than a pocket pack of Kleenex, really - that lives in my purse, which is handy for when I realize on my way home from work that I need to do some shopping.
Here's a fun game
1. Go to an environmentally conscientious supermarket that offers a discount to shoppers who "own bag".
2. Select a small number items for purchase.
3. When offered the choice of paper or plastic, say "neither" and request the "own bag" discount.
I have yet to convince a Whole Foods cashier that carrying my purchases out of the store in my hands has less environmental impact than either paper, plastic or cloth and is thus at least as deserving of subsidy.
Really? At Whole Foods, they
Really? At Whole Foods, they always give me the reusable bags discount when I don't get any bags.
Same here
Never had a problem getting the nickel off if I'm carrying out by hand.
One of my biggest peeves with supermarket baggers is
that most of them will automatically bag the gallon bottle of milk (which has a handle) unless you tell them not to, but won't bag the 10 pound sack of cat litter (which doesn't have a handle) unless you ask them to.
And, the battle to keep that cat litter sack inside the flimsy plastic bags supermarkets now give you was one of the things that convinced me to convert to reusable bags.
Why not reuse plastic bags when visiting the supermarket?
Before cloth bags became popular, I usually brought my plastic bags back to the supermarket (or CVS or whatever) and had the bagger put my purchases in the old bags instead of new ones.
forgetting reusable bags
For all of you out there suffering from Bagnesia (a person's forgetfulness to grab their reusable bags) try the Reusable Bag Reminder Kit. It comes with two great reminders (one for the house and one for your car). It will work with the bags you already own but it also comes with great washable, compact bag that you can use for unexpected trips to the store. www.grabyourbags.com
Buying more stuff is the
Buying more stuff is the problem, not the solution. Paying $14.99 for a bag and a sign advertising said bag is a waste.