Plastic Bag Woes

Today (Monday) I was very disappointed to find out that our hometown has decided to go the way of our current town and to ban plastic bags in the supermarkets. I have previously written about this from a remote seachange point of view (below). It is distressing that life in my hometown as I knew it is changing. Since researching it though I found they are just charging the customer for the bag, not actually banning them. Here is the information. I wonder if they will go as far as my current town in banning them altogether in the end.

I still like plastic bags for carrying my purchased food items. I used boxes for quite awhile when the bags were taken away at the local supermarket. I am quite good at stacking them in the trolley, they work very well. I don't like putting meat in the box, and I don't like knowing that the boxes are brought back probably because of the price of taking them to the tip here, and knowing they had meat in them too. Maybe that was the decider.

I use the plastic bags for storing clothes, and really love doing that, and treasured every little bag in the end. I don't think I ran out.

Why don't I use green bags? I have seen that stuff broken down, and it turns into powder. Also I don't think the amount of food I buy would go back into the trolley and I don't want to try. I am also too lazy to wash calico bags.

I was being very kind when I wrote that. I didn't mention how heavy the boxes were made, and my upset at how would I manage the boxes if I was pregnant for example, obviously I have been pregant a lot since I have been married and think of those things. I think no one thinks of the larger family when they make these decisions. Maybe it is easy to restack an overflowing trolley with green bags.

I found these two interesting links. I find I am more inclined to love being New South Wales these days. Victoria is too small and all think the same way, and obviously some people are not doing their research, of course I suspect that I haven't done mine either. The first is about plastic bags that break down, and I have come across them twice before, and the other about the State Government. Please ignore the title, I haven't really understood what it meant, just thought the points were good.

I guess the point is that my hometown does still have plastic bags, and I would gladly pay to use them if I lived there. If they had banned the plastic bags, there would have been no point me moving back there in the future.

The supermarket that I shop in now wouldn't overload boxes if I did use them, and would help me if I needed them to to load the car, and I gladly pay to drive there to shop.

Today (Thursday) I noticed the bag I got from Mensland says it is totally recyclable and degradable. The shopping bag debate was talked about on this great forum called My Shopping List.

Comments

Tania said…
Hello Linda,
Our town has decided to ban plastic bags as of the end of this year. I think this applies to most of South Australia, but don't quote me on that.

Have a fun filled weekend,
Tania
Tilly said…
It's a tricky one - the plastic bag question. I think there is one small town in the UK which has declared itself a 'no plastic bag' zone. A lot of the bigger shops are now charging for bags whilst some have moved over to using paper bags with handles - mostly clothing stores. I have some large plastic bags which I re-use at home and some large canvas bags, which can be laundered if necessary, for my food shopping.
Linda said…
Thanks guys, it helps put things in perspective.

I found this article where the shop tested the degradable bags to see if they actually did degrade, they are very responsible aren't they?

"A leading retailer confidentially told us they had a well known ‘degradable’ bag tested and the results gave rise to significant concern as to whether these ‘degradable’ bags will properly degrade or biodegrade in Australian conditions. New standards are urgently needed here."

http://www.environment.gov.au/settlements/
publications/waste/plastic-bags/planet-ark/reducing.html

It also says food is only 29% of bag usage, and fast food is a problem area, well that is what I got from the stats.

I wonder if there has been any measureable results from the decrease in bags on the marine life or if that is possible?
Hill upon Hill said…
I use my plastic bags at home a lot.
Fiona said…
I take green bags to the supermarket for all our groceries, until we run out of plastic bags, then I do a full shop with plastic bags. Otherwise I would be buying plastic bags for bin liners. We are past the nappy stage so we get by with about 1 bag used a day. The only bags which are not reused are the ones which don't make it home without breaking. I like reusable bags better because they hold more and are stronger, I have some good waterproof type ones too from Enjo which are great. Boxes would drive me crazy. If I drop into the shops for something during the week I nearly always come home with a few bags which also become bin liners. I think there is a good argument for both plastic and reusable bags to be used. As for shops giving paper bags, I have a large stack of nice paper bags waiting to be re-used as gift bags, but I never seem to use them, just move the pile from place to place! We use cloth bags to take things places and for the library, otherwise I want a waterproof disposable (ie plastic) bag if I am handing something on to someone. Thanks for your post on this.

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