Should Plastic Shopping Bags Be Banned?

This might sound harsh, but people need to stop being so thoughtless and lazy for the mere sake of convenience. I keep my reusable fabric bags in the trunks of both my vehicles so when I get to the store, they are right there. When I get home and empty them, they immediately go back in the trunk so I don't forget when I leave again. A little thought saves the environment and our wallets - do you think the grocery stores don't pass on the costs of those bags to you? They aren't free. You say you re-use them; great, but how about finding an alternative that is smaller and maybe biodegradable? I buy doggie waste bags that I use for my kitty litter clean up - smaller than grocery bags and better for the environment. One example:
http://www.amazon.com/BioBags-Biodegrad ... B000AA7PWQ

Disposable plates and tableware don't HAVE to be plastic either. I was at a wedding last year where they used bamboo plates, forks, knives, and spoons. You can wash and reuse them, like many do with plasticware, or throw them away, but the difference is that the bamboo won't still be here a thousand years from now. And they look a heck of a lot prettier!
http://www.webstaurantstore.com/bambu-0 ... 60700.html
http://www.webstaurantstore.com/bambu-0 ... 61500.html
http://www.webstaurantstore.com/bambu-0 ... 61600.html

Plastic bags aren't just a bane for the need for petroleum to make them and because they don't degrade.
http://www.earthresource.org/campaigns/ ... -info.html

Plenty of other cities have banned plastic bags and people learn to adapt.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/p ... an29m.html
When I read something like this, it only makes my resolve all the firmer:

The American Chemistry Council, the lobbying arm of the plastics industry, has poured $1.4 million into the campaign to defeat the Seattle bag fee

The first steps to eliminating our dependence on fossil fuels starts with reduction and conservation. No, we can't go cold-turkey on oil use, but we can stop using so d@*n much of it by switching what we can. Imagine if we started pushing the pie graphs in this link toward more sustainable sources of energy - we'd have more for the production of household goods, etc and the finite supply we do have will last much longer...
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.o ... sil-fuels/

Hiya SG! Yes, I have - it works well too! (I'm just a sucker for something that looks wood-like!). One thing I do worry about is when the use of such products increases, that it still be made sustainably. There remains the possibility of over-harvesting of bamboo, and corn diverted to products other than food, that can cause problems if not done with the proper safeguards (like quotas on fishing catches).

Sunshine Girl wrote:

Science Chic wrote: Hiya SG! Yes, I have - it works well too! (I'm just a sucker for something that looks wood-like!). One thing I do worry about is when the use of such products increases, that it still be made sustainably. There remains the possibility of over-harvesting of bamboo, and corn diverted to products other than food, that can cause problems if not done with the proper safeguards (like quotas on fishing catches).

I agree. Do you own any clothing made of bamboo?

Matter of fact, I do! I bought some yoga pants at TJ Maxx (love that store - these pants were marked down from $55 to $19) made by eco malibu from bamboo and they are sooooo soft and comfy. I bought both pairs that I found, and then went online to find more, but found their website lacking - wasn't able to find more workout clothes. http://ecomalibuapparel.com/index.html I just went there again to see if they had updated their site, and now it's worse than before - only the homepage and "coming soon" to see. At least before they had a few shirts, skirts, and dresses to choose from. I'm hoping I can find a retailer that carries them...

Rockdoc wrote: Taking a stand on plastic bags could be the beginning of a more global stand against more plastic items for which there are may viable alternatives. Let's face it. Plastic table ware is largely for disposal purposes. Use it and throw it away. Sure there are some folks who wash and reuse them, but mostly they go to fill dumps and form a future archeological commentary of our society.

We are addicted to ease of use, ease of transporting ourselves, ease in everything we can do. I know, because I'm one of those addicts. To overcome addiction takes courage and a relentless drive to resist feeding the addiction that replaces our internal compass with itself. If I begin to take a stand, will you join me?

A single brick may not seem like it is a huge contribution, but when more than one gets stacked pretty soon you have the walls of a house. Similarly, the the progressive elimination of plastic bags can be the first brick laid with the further elimination of other wasteful plastic items as a construction toward reduced petrochemical dependancy. The operative word is reduced, not total elimination.

:bravo: :thumbsup:

I'm with ya! It does take an effort. When I started cataloging all the ways I could reduce my wasteful use, I was shamed at what I contributed without ever having given it a second thought. Ziploc bags and Gladware storage containers - use once and toss! Now, if I have to use them (say for storing raw meat in the freezer, or for the kids snacks for school), I wash them (if possible -never re-use ones storing raw meat) until they fall apart. I use to buy 2-3 cases from Costco a year, now I use less than a case a year.

I bought a compost bin and toss in all the safe food scraps and leaves I bagged last fall to make compost for my garden. I only have enough garden space to grow a little of what we eat, but last year I started buying extra at the framer's markets and canning myself - plan to do tons more this year! Then I'm not buying veggies in tin cans or frozen in plastic baggies that get discarded and it's healthier anyway.

I now put out more stuff for the recycling truck to pick up than for the garbage truck - and that's with 2 kids, one finally getting out of diapers! And I still feel that I have a ways to go. Any other suggestions of what you do that I haven't thought of yet? I love ideas!