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Reusable Bags vs. Thin, Plastic Shopping Bags


Aunt Jen

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Go green?

 

Home depot just now checked me out with NO BAG. They don't have them any more. Now they will sell u a fabric bag for .60.

 

Environment? Or money maker?

 

WHAT IS EVIRONMENTAL impact of forever plastic disposables vs manufacturing the fabric bags and then sometimes laundering them?

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First, I like Plastic Bags. I have two large Standard Poodles. they leave pressies inna yard. I have found a copious amount, or even just a little Poodle Poo in your reusable bag, makes it not so reusable.

 

Beyond that.

 

Yes, it's green. It's good for the planet. The reusable bags are very very profitable. PROFITABLE. Not that our retailers would ever be inclined to make an excuse to vacuum our pockets.

 

Coffinmaker

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If the store wont put my purchases in a bag, plastic OR paper, then I aint payin for em and I WONT be back!!!

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Plastic is a petroleum product. Thus, there is a environmental footprint from that source PLUS another environmental impact (pollution) when you dispose of the plastic bag (for this discussion and a land fill that no one wants) after just a brief usage.

 

The supposed reusable bag that you purchase is (usually) a petroleum product as well. You use it numerous times, becomes contaminated by food juices,,,,, wash it a few times. That washing action uses water and soap and that is a pollution stream in itself. As well as usage of a valuable resource,,,water... At some point, the grocery bag is tossed into the land fill and it becomes an environmental impact.

 

Which (thin/thick plastic bag) has a bigger pollution footprint from start to finish? Don't know.

 

Profit for the store to sell the thin plastic bags or more durable grocery bags? I doubt it. With ever increasing cost of doing business (labor, energy, health insurance, governmental compliance regulations, lawyers, and so forth), if you can just reduce one purchase item (thin plastic bag), then you don't have to raise your prices as soon.

 

I suspect we would be shocked what WalMart cost on an annual bases their flimsy thin bags would be nation wide.

 

Don't want to purchase their bags? Fine, provide your own. Don't recommend paper,,,, the poor 'spotted' owl of yesteryears is still in need.

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The kindest thing I can say on this subject is that I resent someone else telling me that I do not have the right to use a plastic bag because it offends their sense of what's right.

 

Sheesh... teach people not to litter! :angry:

 

I get reeeal disgusted when I see people from "someplace else" tossing trash on the ground or floor, and someone remarks "Oh! But that's what they do in M****o! You can't blame them!"

 

Wanna bet...? -_-

 

And anyone who claims the bags don't break down in the environment hasn't accidentally left one in the garden. <_<

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The kindest thing I can say on this subject is that I resent someone else telling me that I do not have the right to use a plastic bag because it offends their sense of what's right.

 

Sheesh... teach people not to litter! :angry:

 

LOL!! Ya right!! Anybody that can herd cats,,, has a chance at teaching people to be responsible with resources.... Just look at the wasteful rich? Ha,,, define rich. ;)

 

I get reeeal disgusted when I see people from "someplace else" tossing trash on the ground or floor, and someone remarks "Oh! But that's what they do in M****o! You can't blame them!"

 

throwing stuff on the ground or keeping a mega house energized is about the same.

 

Wanna bet...? -_-

 

And anyone who claims the bags don't break down in the environment hasn't accidentally left one in the garden. <_<

Plastic Bags deteriorate to a point of non-usage but don'e break down. At least for hundreds of years.

 

hey, really, I am on your side.

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This is right up there with styrofoam versus paper coffee cups.

 

People say that you should use paper cups, because the styrofoam does not break down, and it is choking the planet.

 

If paper is buried - like in a land fill - it will not break down. Won't. Never. And it takes MORE natural resources to make a paper cup than it does to make a styrofoam cup.

 

So it is better for the planet to use styrofoam, but EVERYONE KNOWS that paper is better.

 

Just like EVERYONE KNOWS that the cloth bags are better than plastic.

 

Why not go back to PAPER bags? Or does that make too much damn sense?

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Eliminate styrofoam & paper cups.

 

Bring your own porcelain cup,,, and take it back home when finished.

 

Can't go back to paper bags,, Spotted Owl thingy (endangered species that was used to shut down logging). gets in the way.

 

Spotted Owl is natural,,,,, forest fires are natural = must be OK... but don't talk about the air pollution from the smoke, which is all natural.

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I agree with Hardpan on this one. As a friend of mine always said, our first thought should be to educate, not to legislate. Teach responsibility, respect and common sense. When used as intended thin plastic bags serve a purpose. They are not good or bad, they are just a thing. It's the people that are the issue.

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Educate the mass of the population? I think we have already creased over the Bell Curve and on the downhill side of the curve of education. Just look around and see how society is fairing.

 

About the only way to prod the population to chance is to increase the cost of whatever to a point where it hurts enough, thus, they will change.

 

Edit: People will continue on the least path of resistance... I.E. use inexpensive thin plastic bags/styrofoam cups vs something else.

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Howdy,

Them anti plastic bag folk don't think about stuff like chicken leaking into the cloth

and spreading germs all over. And I have some cloth bags and take one into many stores.

The bad news is they try to pack ALL my stuff into one bag.

I don't like my stuff crushed.

And those plastic bags let apples and such roll under the seats....

Seems like some stuff is better in plastic bags and some is better in cloth.

Maybe?

Best

CR

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Posted · Hidden by Allie Mo, SASS No. 25217, April 22, 2015 - political, insult
Hidden by Allie Mo, SASS No. 25217, April 22, 2015 - political, insult

Teach responsibility, respect and common sense.

Won't work on most liberals..... (sorry, Allie. I'll shut up)

 

Laz

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Howdy,

Them anti plastic bag folk don't think about stuff like chicken leaking into the cloth

and spreading germs all over. And I have some cloth bags and take one into many stores.

The bad news is they try to pack ALL my stuff into one bag.

I don't like my stuff crushed.

And those plastic bags let apples and such roll under the seats....

Seems like some stuff is better in plastic bags and some is better in cloth.

Maybe?

Best

CR

Take both, sack your own stuff.

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Gots nothing to do with the retailer making money on the bags or bettering the environment. Gots everything to do with engaging the customer in covering their overhead without protest.

 

Plastic/paper bags used to be part of the cost of doing business. Now they've discovered that consumers are can/will pay for that cost. Notice that HD doesn't charge less for their product. Remember bagging your own groceries at discount food stores to lower costs? How long did it take for groceries prices to creep back up to where they were before?

 

Charging 60 cents for a bag is like putting parking meters in the lot. Just another stream of revenue to reduce their overhead while making you feel better about "going green".

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Gots nothing to do with the retailer making money on the bags or bettering the environment. Gots everything to do with engaging the customer in covering their overhead without protest.

 

Plastic/paper bags used to be part of the cost of doing business. Now they've discovered that consumers are can/will pay for that cost. Notice that HD doesn't charge less for their product. Remember bagging your own groceries at discount food stores to lower costs? How long did it take for groceries prices to creep back up to where they were before?

 

Charging 60 cents for a bag is like putting parking meters in the lot. Just another stream of revenue to reduce their overhead while making you feel better about "going green".

Truth to that.

 

BTW, consumers pay for the baggage either way.

 

Grocery store prices don't stay low forever either. Whomever they purchase stuff from, their prices escalates, thus, they pass that right on through to the consumer.

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Here's a little article Myth vs truth.

 

I have known it takes more petroleum to make paper bags than plastic bags.

Plastic bags are made from natural gas by products.

 

Also realize the article is from the plastic industry.

 

But if you do more research on this, you will find they did not slant the information.

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Perhaps 'fossil fuels' is better terminology.

 

Beside using natural gas for the manufacturing of plastic bags, coal/petroleum/NG is used to generate the electricity to run the machines and processes to convert the NG to thin plastic bag...or to convert raw wood to finished paper product.

 

Either way, Green house gasses are being generated and release for the convenience of the consumer.

 

 

Fossil fuel | Define Fossil fuel at Dictionary.com

dictionary.reference.com/browse/fossil+fuel

Dictionary.com

A hydrocarbon deposit, such as petroleum, coal, or natural gas, derived from the accumulated remains of ancient plants and animals and used as fuel. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases generated by burning fossil fuels are considered to be one of the principal causes of global warming.

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