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We have Aldi's here in SE Michigan. They started somewhere in Ohio. The bags I use are from Meijer's. Meijer's started in Western Michigan and has expanded into Northern Ohio and possibly Indiana. It is like a Wal-Mart Super Center or a Super K-Mart, although I think it is higher quality.
With few exceptions, Aldi's is private label brands, all Aldi's of course. Some are good, some are OK and some are to avoid. Most of Aldi's canned goods are OK so is the frozen items and dairy items, but their baked products are rough around the edges! One of the reasons that I stopped shopping at Aldi's was that they never had the same items on a regular basis and I had to take what was available. I didn't think that that was a good trade off for the questionable quality and middle of the road prices.
Steve you got 8 yrs on me!! Yep I remember Grain sacks...potatoe sacks...they had many good uses after the feed was gone!! They need to bring them back....
Steve you got 8 yrs on me!! Yep I remember Grain sacks...potatoe sacks...they had many good uses after the feed was gone!! They need to bring them back....
I remember my grandmother using potato sacks for all kinds of household uses. I also remember the iceman delivering blocks of ice for the "icebox"! My grandmother had an icebox that had two sides and took 2 block of ice, whenever I was in her house, I got to empty the water pans under the icebox, a big responsibility for a little kid!
I wonder why grocery stores don't just go back to using paper bags like they used to several years ago. Surely those were better for the environment?
Grocery stores have been using plastic bags of lots of years, it just seems like a several years ago! The reason for using plastic bags? Money! Plastic bags were a whole lot cheaper to produce and buy than paper bags. Then there was the matter of convenience with plastic, water resistance, less storage space than paper, plastic bags could be made much larger than paper bags, etc. Of course, since the run up in crude oil and natural gas prices (most plastics are made from natural gas not petroleum) that price difference is fading fast. Also, the rise of the "greening" of society will probably be the "nail in the coffin" for plastic grocery and most plastic shopping bags.
If given a choice, I prefer paper to plastic because trees are renewable. The only thing the drives me crazy about using trees for paper is the amount of junk mail that comes into my house. Not a day goes by that we don't recieve half a dozen or more credit card applications from banks we've never even heard of. But they don't even end up in land fill. We shred them and use them in our compost, the worms love it! I think it is high time that big business be made responsible for what they contribute to waste, in every sense of the word. Our grocery store is realizing the cost of using paper and plastic. They are now offering for a nominal amount, a reuseable bag. They are really nice, have nice wide handles that don't cut into your hands, and pockets inside and out for greeting cards or prescriptions. And they are very roomy, I cannot believe how much stuff we could pack in them. They even have a flat bottom so jars and cans don't fall over. I can't find a tag, but I suspect they are made from some recycled material. I have three and I plan on getting at least three more. I am fortunate that the plastic bags that do make their way into my house can be recycled along with cardboard, bottles and cans.
You make excellent points. Our grocers are offering their form of reuseable bags as well (as I noticed that some people are carrying Walmart canvas bags, too....so they are apparently offering them as well). Our city does some recycling, but at this time, don't do plastics (I guess it "costs to much" to ship from Wyoming to Nebraska, where the plastic is recylced)...but I've noticed that the area grocery stores have bins for recylcing plastic bags, which I think is great. We've really made an effort (ever since living in Oregon, where they have an AWESOME recycling effort) to recycle every little thing we can....our neighbors think we're weird (so do my coworkers)...but I am conscientious about it. I try to get as many people as possible to do it (and I'm sure I could probably do better...couldn't we all?)
I've heard that producing paper trash bags consume more energy to produce than the plastic. I don't know of a 13 gallon trash bag that would be "green." I haven't thought of a way around that yet. I've heard that the plastic garbage bags degrade in about 5 years????
This claim merely means they degrade into unusable pieces. The plastic is still there as plastic and is not worm food - pretty much forever.
I have several canvas bags and those new bags that I bring into the store for most of my purchases. Before those, I had several French net bags I used but after 25 years, they have developed some holes and I lost a purchase or two ... My Food Coop says that the nickel they donate to charities for every reusable bag customers bring in is still significantly cheaper than the cost of the bags for them. The new reusable bags say they are recyclable too, but I don't know what they are made out of.
Now, if we can get the plastic armor that encases most things now days to be gone or biodegradable, it would help a lot.
The paper bags of yore were considerably thicker and stronger than the ones provided now so they worked better (didn't split).
Another thing is how to do without the plastic produce bags for our grocery shopping? I suppose those could be made out of cornstarch bags too.
That cornstarch plastic looks promising - make bags out of that instead of petrochemicals.
Also, the hemp ban is really stupid - hemp requires little water, is highly pest resistant, and grows like a weed. Cotton is the opposite. George Washington grew hemp as a fabric/rope crop.
This claim merely means they degrade into unusable pieces. The plastic is still there as plastic and is not worm food - pretty much forever.
No way! Now I feel dumb... I thought it was supposed to be biodegradable but your right... it's PLASTIC. Duh.
I do use those canvas bags for groceries... but I thought the OP was talking about 13 gallon trash bags. I like the potato sack idea that Steve mentioned above but where does one get those?
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. Cotton is the opposite.
George Washington grew hemp as a fabric/rope crop.
I thought it was supposed to be biodegradable but your right... it's PLASTIC. Duh. 
