Seattle has banned plastic bags, as I found out when I got to the check-out counter at Target last week on my trip to Westwood Village. I had brought one of my Envirosax bags with me from New Jersey, but had loaned it to Audrey and Peter for shopping on their trip to San Francisco. My choices were to pay a nickel for a sturdy paper bag with handles or to buy a red reusable Target bag. I chose the latter.
In Plainfield, I almost always bring my own bags to Twin City, either my L.L. Bean canvas bag or the Envirosax bags that roll up to the size of an overgrown Tootsie Roll. Twin City requires checking of bags, but the Envirosax ones easily fit in my purse, ready to unfurl at check-out.
I understand there is a study proposed on one-use plastic and paper bags in New Jersey. I am in favor of a future ban on such bags. A high proportion of the debris that the wind blows onto our grounds near Park & Seventh consists of black or white plastic bags. They get stuck in trees or land on my garden plants and are just a general nuisance. Twin City double-bags everything, so even the smallest errand can result in a welter of plastic bags at home. We do use them as waste-basket liners, but there is always an overflow of bags. Apparently most people discard bags from the newsstand or liquor store as soon as they leave the premises, because the whole block is strewn with them.
I have used two Envirosax bags for several years now, and recently used some PayPal dollars from the blog to get one more. Each bag can hold up to 44 pounds and they are washable. I think I am one of very few shoppers who currently bring reusable bags to Twin City. Some other stores give a small credit for bringing your own bags, but the main point is not to accumulate a bunch of non-biodegradable plastic bags.
Interestingly, my son-in-law has three cloth shopping bags that I made for him several years ago. He is the family chef and shops for fresh produce and groceries every day in the European manner. I was surprised that the bags have held up so long. It is easy to make such bags using a plain brown paper bag as a pattern. There are also ready-made ones available at craft shops, intended for embellishment but usable as is.
The trend to reusable bags is picking up (click here). I for one hope New Jersey will not spend too long studying what is already self-evident and will move on to action to ban plastic bags.
--Bernice
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ALL THE LAWS THAT THE BLUE STATES PASS that interfere with common everyday living and it amazes me that NJ has yet to ban plastic bags. I hate them. Plastic bags are such a menace to the environment.
ReplyDeleteYou know what would be cool? Since the City of Plainfield really accomplishes NOTHING of substance...BAN PLASTIC BAGS.
Everyone of the council members and the Mayor grew up with paper bags. Paper bags are entirely made of recycled paper. Use of recycled paper is actually good for the industry ( retail as a whole... have the research in environmental marketing to back it up ) and if people want to be poor stewards of the environment and chuck it on the street... it's completely 100% biodegradable.
How about it City Council, Mayor and Jerry Green ??? Why don't the group of you actually do 1 THING that isn't politics based? Do 1 Thing RIGHT ? DO 1 THING that will actually benefit not ONLY Plainfield..but the whole planet... ???
--- BAN PLASTIC BAGS
( I don't believe I missed this post... )
But what would we use for pooper scoopers?
ReplyDeletesigned the man with 2 mini-schnauzers in Netherwood Heights.
Although I, generally, use fabric shopping bags, I do, sometimes request plastic ones, which I reuse to empty waste from my cats' litter boxes. Any plastic bags which have holes, and cannot be reused for this purpose, are collected and placed in the recycling bins at A&P and Stop and Shop. If re-purposed, there are a number of uses for plastic shopping bags. There is no reason for them to be considered as "one-use" products.
ReplyDeleteWe use plastic bags to collect household garbage (e.g. coffee grounds, etc.), tie them up and put them in our big garbage bags which go into the bin for PUMA to collect. For shopping I always use reusable bags, mostly cloth (Aldi's bags are great) and I have found that my collection of old tote bags can be put to this use too. During World War II, the motto was "reduce, reuse, recycle," and we should be doing that now too. (Jim, if you need some plastic bags for pooper scoopers, give a call--we have plenty!)
ReplyDelete