HEB Grocery & "Bring your own bags" (Home Depot, price)

[Alex in Austin]

Mesmer,

Thanks for the thoughtful response. You make many good points. I agree that there are tradeoffs made in almost any environmental decision.

I've also wondered about the cost of washing my bags, but decided that it was worth it. To be fair, I don't know how to measure that.

Looking forward to other responses...

[HappyTexan]

And it's not even a true plastic bag ban with all the exceptions and temp waivers.

Just cut them all off and after a loud, complaining adjustment period, people will adapt.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by HappyTexan

And it's not even a true plastic bag ban with all the exceptions and temp waivers.

Just cut them all off and after a loud, complaining adjustment period, people will adapt.

And thus liberty dies, not with a bang, but with a whimper.

I don't care one way or another about bags, have lots of reusable ones. DO care about such choices being legislated for adults who are apparently presumed by some to either not be smart enough to make their own decisions and those same some think that it's their place, for some absurd reason, to legislate the "right" choices for all the other citizens.

The sad thing is that the Austin City Council is falling for this. How the mighty have fallen!

[alwaysmiling]

You ever look at the fences that line the roads in the Hill Country and beyond? You ever drive out I-10 west and notice the amount of plastic bags that ruin the landscape? I'm not for the over-reaching arms of government, TRUST ME, but as someone who has been using reusable bags for years, recycles as much as I can, and cringes at the sight of people that load their cars with a plastic bag for every other item they buy at the store, I can clearly see where this is in the best interest of the common good; to protect our landscape, as these bags don't biodegrade for something on the order of 100 years at least. Maybe if said adults could keep the bags from flying out of the back of their trucks or out of trash containers we wouldn't have to ban them. It's time people like yourself learn to adapt a little bit, and EVOLVE, as opposed to behaving in an antiquated way with a curmudgeon POV. Yes punishing everyone for a few others mistakes with respect to litter is not great, and I hardly thing this is "punishment," but it's better than the future landscape in an around our fair city if these bags continue to hang in every tree along all of our lakes, streams, creeks, roadways, etc... There simply isn't enough boy-scouts to clean them all up, along with you and the horse you consistently ride in on....

[Reggieray]

Austin city council especially mike Martinez can eat it. Why didn't they have a vote on this, maybe because it wouldn't have passed? Why not do what Georgetown is doing and recycling the bags with your normal residential recycle? I can't wait for these yahoos to be out of office but it will be another yahoo with a personal agenda to waste tax payer money and pull bull crap like this to stay hip and cool with the cities of San Fran and Portland.

[Reggieray]

Originally Posted by alwaysmiling

. You ever look at the fences that line the roads in the Hill Country and beyond? You ever drive out I-10 west and notice the amount of plastic bags that ruin the landscape? I'm not for the over-reaching arms of government, TRUST ME, but as someone who has been using reusable bags for years, recycles as much as I can, and cringes at the sight of people that load their cars with a plastic bag for every other item they buy at the store, I can clearly see where this is in the best interest of the common good; to protect our landscape, as these bags don't biodegrade for something on the order of 100 years at least. Maybe if said adults could keep the bags from flying out of the back of their trucks or out of trash containers we wouldn't have to ban them. It's time people like yourself learn to adapt a little bit, and EVOLVE, as opposed to behaving in an antiquated way with a curmudgeon POV. Yes punishing everyone for a few others mistakes with respect to litter is not great, and I hardly thing this is "punishment," but it's better than the future landscape in an around our fair city if these bags continue to hang in every tree along all of our lakes, streams, creeks, roadways, etc... There simply isn't enough boy-scouts to clean them all up, along with you and the horse you consistently ride in on....

Our land is littered everywhere. Plastic bags are only a small part what about cigaret butts that are all over and have started several devastated fires? You going to ban cigarettes too?

[llkltk]

Originally Posted by orngkat

So you wash 'em once in a while...no big deal.

Isn't the City of Austin trying to conserve water. Washing bags, what a waste!

[10scoachrick]

Originally Posted by llkltk

Isn't the City of Austin trying to conserve water. Washing bags, what a waste!

You're joking, I hope. You really think folks are going to run an extra wash cycle 'frequently' in order to wash a canvas bag? How 'bout you toss them in with your socks or towels and call it a day.

AND by the way folks...
NOBODY is prohibited from USING one-time plastic bags. You can carry around and use ALL YOU WANT...the stores just have to make it harder to get them by not giving them away(as many, as often as before) .

[PittsburghAustin]

It would have been nice to have a vote on this. Nothing stops the people that want to use canvas or other types of reusable bags to keep using them if it would pass or not. But then it does not seem to matter to city council the way the citizens vote. If the outcome isn't the way they want it, they just make the people vote again or do what they want anyway.

[alwaysmiling]

Our land is littered everywhere. Plastic bags are only a small part what about cigaret butts that are all over and have started several devastated fires? You going to ban cigarettes too?

I sure hate seeing cigarette butts laying around in the gutters and sidewalks. My friend actually has made an ash tray that wraps around his side mirror so that he is doing his part to not litter them. I'm a non-smoker, but the fact is that a discarded cigarette butt will break down anywhere from 18 months to 10 years depending on the environment and type. The first part to degrade is the tobacco, along with the paper. The outer paper on the filter would follow. The white padded filter could easily take 10 years, but again, it depends on soil type and environmental conditions, etc.

As I drive down the highway I don't see the butts in plain site, so maybe it's a case of out-of-sight out-of-mind, and obviously they break down at a much higher rate so maybe it's not as big of a deal. Yes, granted we've all seen the fire destruction. But if we start with the bags, then maybe we can transition to paper cartons as opposed to plastic bottles for our milk and bottled water. Hopefully then we can attack the litter problem from an appropriate angle so that the generations after us can enjoy a more litter-free lasndscape.