Should Paper and Plastic Bags Be Banned? — Supermarket Savvy
12 Comments | Written on April 23, 2012 at 9:00 am, by Rachel Achmad
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Last week, to celebrate Earth Day, I wrote about the incentives some stores offer when you bring your own reusable bags to shop.
I keep hearing about places that have actually banned disposable plastic bags and even paper shopping bags altogether, and I’ve been wondering how those bans will affect such incentive programs as well as grocery prices. There are no bag bans where I live, so I didn’t know much about them. I spent a little time researching, and here’s what I found:
Around the world, with a confusing range of specifics and enforcement, governing bodies are restricting the use of disposable shopping bags (such as requiring customers to pay for each disposable bag they use) or banning them outright. Here in the U.S., Austin, Tex., just passed one of the most restrictive bag bans in the country, banning essentially all disposable plastic and paper bags at checkout counters beginning next March.
San Francisco, Portland, Ore., and many other smaller communities already have imposed bans of varying degrees on plastic and paper bags. Los Angeles, which has a partial bag ban in effect in some areas, is considering a more complete ban, a move that the Los Angeles Times just publicly supported.
Not everyone agrees that banning bags is the best solution, and there are strong opinions on both sides of the issue. I imagine it’s hard to argue with the notion that it’d be better for the planet if we didn’t have all those plastic bags floating around. But what about the impact of bag bans on the bottom line?
Grocers and retailers all acknowledge that not having to supply bags to their customers will reduce their operating costs, but they aren’t necessarily saying what those savings might mean for consumers.
So the big question, whether or not shoppers will enjoy some of the savings that bag bans will bring to grocers, is still unanswered.
What I do know is that if bag bans become universal, I’ll have an expense I’ve never had before: doggie clean-up bags.
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12 Responses to “Should Paper and Plastic Bags Be Banned? — Supermarket Savvy”
We use the plastic and paper bags as garbage bags after we bring them home. If we no longer received bags, I would be purchasing bags. That would just be replacing plastic bag in the garbage with another.
Thanks so much for your comments everyone! This is truly a hot topic, isn’t it. Thank you all for the points you’ve brought up for consideration. As I mentioned in the article, I reuse my plastic bags to clean up after my dog, and I always wonder (and rarely hear discussed) is if free bags are banned, will people stop cleaning up after their pups? I’ve visited other countries where dog owners DON’T clean up, and it ain’t pretty. Just another thought to throw out there. Thanks again for reading and commenting!
To answer the question in the headline….NO.
We are having enough of our freedoms taken away and opinions forced on us.
You can suggest, weedle and cajole people to try to convince them all you want, but enough with the BANNING!
I recently shopped in a city I was visiting. Since I wasn’t driving my own car, I had no bags. The cashier told me rather snottily that their store was “plastic free.” (It’s actually the city’s policy.) I had to buy a bag for $1.49. Same chain in our home town sells the same bags for 99 cents.
The real joke: a sign on the display of those reusable bags tells us they’re made of plastic!
Plastic free store, huh?
I really think they shouldn’t just “give” the bags away – if you want them – you can purchase them. There are grocery stores such as bottom dollar and others, where they do not provide bags, there are boxes if you choose to use them and bags if you choose to purchase them. This cost reflects the cost in the products in the store. Especially the people who double bag or have the brown bag in the plastic bag. I remember years ago, shopping with my grammy and she used re-usable bags and that’s over 40 years ago. We’ve become a disposable society. I also remember taking the soda bottles and beer bottles for redemption to be reused again. Times have changed some for the good and some not so good.
Paper bags have been used for Many years and they too were recycled as are the plastic. We have already lost so many of our rights, no need to handicap us when we shop. Brith control might help reduce the use of all the plastic we use. Look all through the stores at the prepaired foods in disposal containers. And those reusable bags do harbor germs. Bugs are brought to the stores and spread.
This is full of crap, i don’t believe on this this crap,this you call socialism and communism and control.
My city banned plastic bags last September The bags I bought at the store hold so much more each than the flimsy plastic bags and are very strong. They have lasted a long time and I haven’t had to replace one of them yet..The cost was about $1 each.
Also they only let you recycle those plastic bags at the store because they are a number that can’t be recycled by most cities and it takes a lot of energy to recycle them…Taking them out of the environment also cuts down on the amount of litter you see in your neighborhood.
I FEEL THAT IS REDICULOS!! NOT EVERYBODY HAS MONEY TO BUY THE OTHER BAGS. WE DO NOT THROW THEM AWAY WE PUT THE TRASH IN THEM, USE THEM AS TRASH CAN LINERS IF WEEDING,
USE THEM TO PUT WEEDS IN. WE ALREADY HAVE STORES THAT RECYCLE
THOSE SACS, AND USE THEM TO MAKE NEW SACS!! DO YOU HAVE THAT???
WHY TAKE AWAY SOMETHING WHEH PEOPLE MAKE GOOD USE WITH THEM???
SOME PEOPLE NEED TO WAKE UP!!!!!!!
I agree they should NOT be banned – at least have paper bags if they want to ban plastic! It just puts an unnecessary burden/costs on the consumer to purchase reusable cloth bags which won’t last long anyway. That is, if you remember to bring them in the 1st place. So many people recycle them anyway, as garbage bags, to store things in so they don’t get dusty, etc. And if you DON’T want to reuse them, you can drop them off at any Wal-Mart and let THEM recycle them for you. Plus, too many jobs will be lost. Bad move!
I agree with Sandra fromApril 24th. I live in a very rural area and only do bulk grocery shopping once in a while. Reusable bags are great for a few items. A bulk order would be hard to handle in a store. I could bring boxes (and hopefully not cockroaches), but how would I get them packed into my car? Customer service really doesn’t exist where I live. An absolute ban would impair a good part of the population, especially handicapped or elderly. Don’t ban – encourage and teach. I’m tired of big government.
I think a bag ban is rediculous because the reusable bags habor germs and so on. Also the bags that we use are recycled in their own way, we unload our food and then use the bags as trash bags..what are they gonna do about TRASH bags which are plastic too. This kind of ban will also make more job losses! Makes me wonder how many people go to the store and forget the reusable bags, only to have to turn around and go back for them, fuel used more than needed.