Grocery Store to drop plastic bags. (Phoenix, Halsey: sale, groceries, department stores)

[puerco]

Originally Posted by backdrifter

I still don't understand the fuss. People in several other unnamed countries have been doing just fine without plastic (or paper) bags forever. You have to bring your own bags, and you have to bag your groceries yourself. They get on just fine in those places. It is not a big deal--getting rid of disposable, plastic grocery bags is not the end of the world as we know it.

I live in a city that's banned plastic bags for the past 2 years now. And you're right, Backdrifter. It IS no big deal. I don't understand why some posters are so upset about it.

[pdxMIKEpdx]

Originally Posted by rhodan653

Have you lived in these "unnamed countries" yourself for long? Trying to compare our supermarkets to a European shopping experience is apples to oranges. They have few "supermarkets" and most European shoppers shop more frequently and buy small quantities from smaller markets. Most Europeans live out of a fridge that is the size of what we give college kids to use in the dorms. In theory could Americans live like that...sure but it is not realistic given how our society has evolved. People here shop completely differently and the standard, disposable bag evolved to cope with high volumes of shoppers purchasing high volumes of products. Non-standard bags packed by consumers of various "skill" will not co-exist well in larger supermarkets. Small markets may manage it but larger ones will turn into a nightmare. Maybe I will be pleasantly surprised and maybe shopping habits can be altered over time. We shall see.

Good words..........And just a thought..........instead of Portland (with it's forward thinking reputation) copying San Francisco or Chicago, maybe, just maybe, we Portlanders can apply our progessive liberal green ideas

AND COME UP WITH SOMETHING ORIGINAL!!!!!

[backdrifter]

Originally Posted by pdxMIKEpdx

Yep, I'm a horrible, greedy, wasteful, rich, spoiled, Americans SOB all right.
Must be, because you quoted me to set up your little soapbox.

Sorry I have to live in the real world in real world time.
Next time I'll ask for triple bagged paper sacks.

Of course it was aimed at you, Mike. No, it wasn't really. Just in general at everyone. Even at myself.

Originally Posted by rhodan653

Have you lived in these "unnamed countries" yourself for long? Trying to compare our supermarkets to a European shopping experience is apples to oranges. They have few "supermarkets" and most European shoppers shop more frequently and buy small quantities from smaller markets. Most Europeans live out of a fridge that is the size of what we give college kids to use in the dorms. In theory could Americans live like that...sure but it is not realistic given how our society has evolved. People here shop completely differently and the standard, disposable bag evolved to cope with high volumes of shoppers purchasing high volumes of products. Non-standard bags packed by consumers of various "skill" will not co-exist well in larger supermarkets. Small markets may manage it but larger ones will turn into a nightmare. Maybe I will be pleasantly surprised and maybe shopping habits can be altered over time. We shall see.

I suppose it's apples to oranges... I do have a lot of customers who bring a bag to the store every day and buy just enough for that day, comme les européens. The thing is, though, that in all the high-volume supermarkets (Safeway, Fred Meyer, Target, Wal-Mart, etc.), the cashier is the one who bags your groceries. As a cashier who now does not have plastic available any longer, I'm checking at about the same speed I was when we did have plastic. And also, the type of consumers who buy large volumes of items are usually making a large, well-thought out shopping trip for a week or a couple weeks or even a month. Those types of consumers drive cars to the store. And for these people who plan this big shopping trip and have a car, planning to bring 6-8 reusable bags to the store isn't a hassle at all. It doesn't make any tangible difference to them whether they are carrying their items in plastic bags or paper bags (with handles) or reusable bags. It's hardly a nightmarish scenario for anybody involved.

But that's just one type of consumer. From what I've seen, it's really not the end of the world if we don't have plastic bags. I wish we (as a state) could move on to more important things. It just seems like common sense to tax disposable bags and/or ban disposable, plastic grocery bags. There are definitely bigger fish to fry than plastic bags, as I've said before.

That's my 5¢ for this thread. Over and out.

[backdrifter]

Originally Posted by pdxMIKEpdx

Good words..........And just a thought..........instead of Portland (with it's forward thinking reputation) copying San Francisco or Chicago, maybe, just maybe, we Portlanders can apply our progessive liberal green ideas

AND COME UP WITH SOMETHING ORIGINAL!!!!!

Exactly. Oregon used to be an innovator. I think you said that yourself... The public beaches law, Urban Growth Boundaries, the bottle bill, the first Department of Energy, and so on. Those were groundbreaking. Me-too-surface-green-feel-good-liberal bans on plastic bags are an insult to the heritage of this great state.

Now--really--over and out.

[kieferrocks58]

A good canvas bag? Try a mason's bag. In Latin America they weave grocery bags from shredded nylon. Sturdy, cheap.

[haggardhouseelf]

Originally Posted by TechmanOR

The eco liberals like to portray "non renewables" as if they're something evil. If you melt down beach sand, it will turn into glass. Rocks, glass, sand are non-renewable resources.

What they are talking about is how one thing comes from something that is strip-mined or drilled out of the earth causing environmental damage that often is irreversible, while another item comes from something like trees which can be managed in an earth-conscious, sustainable, or intelligent way which does not harm the earth, and things such as plants, trees, grass, bamboo, etc. can be replanted and grown in continuum.

[Minervah]

The trouble I have no with longer being able to get the free grocery store plastic bags is the only alternative will be to start buying them. You can't put your kitty or doggy poo in cloth or vinyl bags and throw them away or use them for the many things I listed in an earlier post. The companies who make trash bags, sandwich bags etc will start making these types of bags and make a fortune while doing so.

[Lee151]

Personally, I hate plastic bags. I can't count how many times I've had them break dumping my stuff. I've hated them since they started using them. I hate storing them and know because I have worked in more than one grocery store that those recycle bins for them are emptied into the GARBAGE they are NOT recycled!
I have reusable bags and I like the really nice paper bags with handles used by QFC, New Seasons and some Thriftways. I use them to sort recyclables like scrap and shredded paper before putting them into the bin.
I have not had the Fred Meyer bags fall apart, ours are months old.
There are some really nice reusable bags out there, here is one site whose bags I use.
Welcome | Neela Products, Inc.

[Annie53]

Originally Posted by Lee151

Personally, I hate plastic bags. I can't count how many times I've had them break dumping my stuff. I've hated them since they started using them. I hate storing them and know because I have worked in more than one grocery store that those recycle bins for them are emptied into the GARBAGE they are NOT recycled!
I have reusable bags and I like the really nice paper bags with handles used by QFC, New Seasons and some Thriftways. I use them to sort recyclables like scrap and shredded paper before putting them into the bin.
I have not had the Fred Meyer bags fall apart, ours are months old.
There are some really nice reusable bags out there, here is one site whose bags I use.
Welcome | Neela Products, Inc.

I can't remember where, but, somewhere I read about people complaining that the garbage truck that picked up their "recycle bins", all paper in one, all metal in another, all glass in another, etc.; just emptyed all of the bins together into the garbage truck.

[bob loblaw75]

Originally Posted by Lee151

Personally, I hate plastic bags. I can't count how many times I've had them break dumping my stuff. I've hated them since they started using them. I hate storing them and know because I have worked in more than one grocery store that those recycle bins for them are emptied into the GARBAGE they are NOT recycled!
I have reusable bags and I like the really nice paper bags with handles used by QFC, New Seasons and some Thriftways. I use them to sort recyclables like scrap and shredded paper before putting them into the bin.
I have not had the Fred Meyer bags fall apart, ours are months old.
There are some really nice reusable bags out there, here is one site whose bags I use.
Welcome | Neela Products, Inc.

Nice Lee151. When I was in high school I worked for a large grocery chain (starts with an "A") they didn't recycle those bags that were dropped off in the bag recycle bins. It wasn't just one store either. I worked at several because I couldn't pick up enough hours at one store so I had to bounce around. Regardless of which store I was at, the end of the night we would dump the bag of bags in the trash compactor. A friend of mine worked at another large chain (starts with an "S" and is now a part of the Kroger army of chains). They did the same thing each night too.

Even though I seldom use plastic bags, I have a hard time getting too worked up over the bag issue. Those years of working in a retail environment and seeing all the plastic waste that goes into the trash each day made that bag of bags seem like a joke. When I think about this issue, I can't help getting more upset about the ridiculous amount of plastic shrink wrap, clam shell packaging, and plastic seasonal junk that would go into the trash on a daily basis. It's hard for me not to think about this plastic bag issue as another thing that people/politicians can use a weak example of them doing something "green." Walk down the processed food isles in a grocery store or the electronics section and look at all that packaging waste that will never get tackled, but since we're putting that stuff in reuseable bags it's better I guess.

I remember wanting to lose my mind when people would come in to a store and ask for "double paper in plastic" (a paper bag in a paper bag in a plastic bag). Or having to bag anything with handles, like milk or 12 packs of soda. Retail chains would love to get rid of paper too and have us all buying their overpriced bags so they could save more money and we could be walking advertisments for them.