Amen! Lol

Amen ..again!

Well, she's still right, lol. Plastic bags aren't good for the environment. We have to pay for them now in CA. I always forget my reusable ones!

GREAT post. It's interesting that before we had curbside recyling it was always us older folks who took things to the recycling center. The younger ones are too used to convenience

Oh, how I long for the good old days. We had so many good things back then - even more racism than now, segregation and Jim Crow laws in the South, sexual harassment and discrimination making every day at work a treat for many men and torture for many women, unequal pay, zero tolerance for those with different lifestyles and preferences, etc.

The cashier was rude but that doesn't diminish the importance of the message.

No one is too old to learn, to change with the times and break bad habits in favor of better ones. It's a question of will. Those who feel they're stuck with the past and unable to change may want to keep that to themselves because advertising that won't make a positive impression with anyone.

Our community has banned plastic bags for groceries. If you want paper, you have to pay for each bag (and you don't get your money back). You'd be surprised how easy it is to begin remembering your own refillable bags. I leave my empty ones by my door and take them to the car but sometimes I run into the store and forget the bag in the car. When I do, I just have them put the groceries back into the cart and I fill the bag when I get to the car.

"The cashier was rude but that doesn't diminish the importance of the message."

And what message is that???? That's it's OK to be disrespectful and talk down to your elders?? And if it's that big a deal (and I agree that it is), then the store should not be offering plastic bags in the first place. Why have they not swapped them out for brown paper, like 95% of the rest of the environmentally conscious retail establishments have? Or the plastic look-alike but completely biodegradable ones?

This story has been on the internet for years. But I do like it.

I like the story.

I live in California and absolutely detest the bag ban. I find it hypocritical that voters approved the ban but voted down the money we have to pay for a bag from going to environmental causes. The problem isn't the bags. It's pigs who litter. I see the heavier bags they sell left in the parking lots along with paper bags they sell.

The other hypocrisy is that they will sell you a plastic bag at the checkout that is heavier than the old one. The shape is useless for lining waste baskets and I sure don't see people reusing them much.

I just buy my own regular plastic bags that like the ones they used to give out online by the case. They cost me 2 cents each and I can fold them up and put them in my pocket or purse without having to lug around an assortment of smelly reuseables. I reuse them all the time, for garbage, doggie poop bags, dust covers, storage, shoe and laundry bags when I travel etc. I'm not going to pay 10 to 25 cents for a bag I have no future use for.

I have no comment about the ban, but I actually prefer the reusable bags that grocery stores sell to paper or one-use plastic. I can pack so much more into them and they have flat bottoms so they stay put in the car. Because they are coated, I can wash them out with soap and water. I have one insulated bag and I fold the others and place them inside which makes it easy to grab when I'm going into the store. I also keep a nylon folded bag in my purse that I can use in non-grocery stores. It doesn't take long to get into the habit of grabbing the bags when heading into the store.

Back in the day I worked retail downtown..A man came in and complained about the store temp. and I piped up PROUDLY that yes, were keeping the temp. at 60 something as President Carter asked--conserving our energy..he looked at me and scoffed and assured me the USA would always have an abundance....

I hate hate hate that we were steered from paper bags!! Paper is renewable and does not FILL our landfills PERMANENTLY...the entire bottled water INSANITY is a close second. I have a STASH of cloth shopping bags and grab them as I head into the grocery store each week--I am not as disciplined when shopping elsewhere. I am all for ANY ban on plastic bags but how sad that they have to make it A LAW. There are just tooo tooo many people like that old guy back in the day.

My experience is different. Just yesterday at Kroger, my wife requested paper and the packer moaned, "ugh, packing the paper bag is such a hassle."

My wife carried on with, "let me tell you what happens to that plastic after it leaves the store......." So, the youngster got put in place by the 65 year old.

arcy, President Carter also delivered a message about self-indulgence, materialism and loving and owning things. It didn't change our habits.

So, while he's still alive; because men aren't great until they are dead.

Crisis Of Confidence

Sorry, but the mess we are in (green-wise) was NOT caused by the elderly, it was caused by MY generation and the current 20-somethings are trying to make a change . HOWEVER, it's a vicious cycle in my opinion, just because they aren't contributing as much plastic to our landfills doesn't mean they are using less energy or gasoline or any of the other many conveniences of current times that are just as detrimental, if not worse than plastic, to the environment.

Shopping at Aldi's has taught me to always return my reusable bags to my car as soon as I've unloaded them at home!

"who can't work out the change without the cash register telling them how much." so true-if not for calculators/phones

,they wouldnt be able to get by whatsoever...drives me nuts

Love your attitude Tulsarose!

Paper making is also a major polluting process and so is the plastic bag making. I've always thought old clothing made into recyclable bags would be a good way to go. You can at least wash it and give longevity to something that is eventually going to be trashed anyway.

The older generations did know a lot about reusing and improvising with what you already had. They were also the experimental generations were they did things without realizing the effects of what they doing. Some of what they did was good and some bad. None of it was probably intended to harm. When you know better, you do better. I don't like to see the wars between the generations.

I may have told this story before, but it's funny. I had gone into a very large nationally known drugstore with my reusable bag that was clearły marked with the name of the grocery store across the street. As I was checking out the 20ish year old cashier asked if I had purchased the bag at the drugstore. Duh! (I love that 3 letter word that expresses so much.) I told her no, and tuned to get my wallet, and when nm i turned back I found that she had packed my purchases in a plastic bag and had neatly folded the reusable bag on top.

Reminds me of the pope when he flies thousands of miles, burning thousands of gallons of jet fuel (fossil fuel), so he can rent a Fiat when he arrives in the USA.

Where's the savings?

I remember being at my grandma's house when I was little and looking in the pantry or fridge and seeing butter containers filled with breadcrumbs or leftovers. I try to reuse my containers like this now too. :) I try to remember to take my reusable bags but if I forget my husband and I use the plastic bags to take our lunch, use for garbage or for when we scoop the cat boxes.

I've been looking for hippie approaches to things and when you think about it past generations have been doing these things for years. I make my own laundry detergent, use vinegar in the washing machine and dishwasher. Little things here and there that make a big difference. Also I like being idea of not having to depend on others for my needs. Teach yourself how to do things so if something ever happens you're prepared. :)

I too am in California and I'm happy with the ban on plastic bags. They have become an unnecessary litter problem and a danger to the environment. The required charge for bags is to offer a gentle nudge for people to have reusable bags or to reuse what they already have.

Me, I prefer paper bags. They're a renewable resource, recyclable, and biodegradable - checks all the boxes. I don't like to be bothered carrying bags around or needing to think about it so I'm happy to pay the nominal cost that stores are required to charge. Oftentimes the clerks won't include a charge, which I think is fine too. Either way works for me.

The failed proposition to direct the bag charges to environmental causes was a feel-good but nonsensical proposal. It would have led to a unnecessary administrative effort and costs for probably very little benefit. Let the stores keep the charge, it's peanuts to them.

Maui banned plastic bags several years ago. The aina (land) is sacred to Hawaiians. (And tourism is the #1 industry. Maui is selling *beauty*.)

There are no ugly plastic bags draping trees, flying out of garbage trucks, blowing into the ocean. Birds and fish aren't eating bits of plastic. Tourists have a pristine landscape to admire. Cigarettes are also banned in public, including on beaches; sales unlawful to under-21's.

My reusable flat-bottom bags with handles are convenient and stable. Grocery 'bag boys' like them. I have a few with insulation and zipper tops. I don't miss trying to corral a slew of slippery plastic bags from the car, each containing only a few items -- minus those that have escaped to roll around loose in the trunk.

If you can remember your shoes and car keys, you can remember your bags. (Not to say I have never arrived at the store and realized I was wearing my slippers. Not to say I've never locked my keys in the car.)

We walk to the park every day and pick up trash that the teenagers throw around while they are waiting for their drug dealer. Mostly plastic bottles. There are more plastic bottles strewn everywhere than plastic bags. There's a charge for plastic bottles, too, but people just throw them down anyway. Cigarette butts have a plastic tube in them and there are billions of those sloshing around in the ocean killing seabirds. It's not only bags that are a problem.

Olychick, if your name is your community, I pay the nickel when in your city. I love Trader Joe's paper bags, I can find all kinds of second uses for them once I have them home. And third uses. I keep a stash and am happy to have them. What annoys me is that it's not just grocery. I stocked up on...ready? Underwear for DH at Penney's. He's been a Penney's underwear and tee man all his (long) life and isn't about to change, we have no Penney's here any longer. I had an armload. Penney's clerk: Would I like a bag? Oh, heck no. What I would like to do is walk around this mall with a stack of underwear in my arms for all the world to see. Of course I want a bag, charge me the darned nickel ;0)

I like the cardboard trays with low sides that produce comes in, which are piled along with various sized emptied cardboard boxes near the checkouts of a number of stores.

When one store remodeled a few years ago, they stopped doing that ...

... and sometimes I take a tray from another store in there when I shop.

I figure that they're much easier to pack than bag(s) ... and fairly easily carried.

And accompany one happily through quite a number of trips to the market.

Plus recyclable when they get substantially decrepit.

ole joyful