Plastic Bag Ban in New York State

Starting on March 1, there will be a ban on plastic bag use in New York. If you go to a grocery store and plan on buying more than an armful of merchandise, better bring your own bags, totes or boxes. I found that the plastic grocery bags make handy trash bags. When the one I have now are used up, I guess I'll have to buy trash bags. Buying something just to throw away seems like an oxymoron to me. Once a nuisance, plastic bags may become a commodity.
 

Plastic carrier bags are being phased out here in Britain too. However, if you think about it, they are actually more hygienic during the current situation. Bags can harbour germs and bacteria, whereas a nice new plastic bag will be sterile.
 

We've had to pay for plastic carrier bags for a long time now, which has reduced the usage by a massive percentage...so generally most people take their own bags now, or wheeled shopping trolleys if you have to walk far with a heavy load ..but you made a good point @Rosemarie about the current time and plastic bags.

I tell you what is annoying tho' here... is that lately, one of our largest Chains of supermarkets have stopped providing bags ( little plastic baggies or paper bags) to put loose fruit and veg into once we've weighed them and before taking them to the till.

trying to juggle 3 or 4 large baking potatoes, some loose apples, etc without a bag, is difficult, and then we're expected to just put them into the trolley, uncovered with a bag , in which someone's child has been allowed to ride standing in it in dirty shoes..
 
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We've had to pay for plastic carrier bags for a long time now, which has reduced the usage by a massive percentage...so generally most people take their own bags now, or wheeled shopping trolleys if you have to walk far with a heavy load ..but you made a good point @Rosemarie about the current time and plastic bags.

I tell you what is annoying tho' here... is that lately, one of our largest Chains of supermarkets have stopped providing bags ( little plastic baggies or paper bags) to put loose fruit and veg into once we've weighed them and before taking them to the till.

trying to juggle 3 or 4 large baking potatoes, some loose apples, etc without a bag, is difficult, and then we're expected to just put them into the trolley in which someone child has been allowed to ride standing in it in dirty shoes.. bagless..
I have an admission to make. I love reading your posts just to note the differences in our "English." In this one alone, I note you say "plastic carrier bag" whereas we generally just say plastic bag. You say shopping trolley; we say shopping cart. I love the little subtle differences between our language and cultures.
 
yes there's many differences..Marlene.. I seem to know much more American versions of words than the general American knows our British words. I have no idea why that should be, but I do... , perhaps because for many years I've spent a lot of time working with Americans, and when were kids of course we had a lot of American TV shows ..

There's plenty of lists I believe online telling you the comparative terms between the 2 countries... but it's much more fun reading it in a sentence from a real person isn't it? 🧡
 
yes there's many differences..Marlene.. I seem to know much more American versions of words than the general American knows our British words. I have no idea why that should be, but I do... , perhaps because for many years I've spent a lot of time working with Americans, and when were kids of course we had a lot of American TV shows ..

There's plenty of lists I believe online telling you the comparative terms between the 2 countries... but it's much more fun reading it in a sentence from a real person isn't it? 🧡
I know quite a few because I read a lot of British authors and watch almost exclusively BBC shows. Plus, I have a long term penpal from Staffordshire. But I still get a smile even when I have already heard the difference. Every time my friend says "are you winding me up," or "thanks for the biscuits," I get a smile (we exchange little treats quite often). So it's always a delight to read your posts.
 
Haha. The grocery store I shopped at a couple days ago had a sign that said: No reusable bags allowed at this time. Only single use, store supplied plastic bags will be used to pack your groceries. Thank you for your patience.
that's probably a good idea, however many of the supermarkets here charge anything from 25p to ÂŁ1 per plastic carrier bag , so people wouldn't pay it... they'd just put everything into their trolleys' unbagged and take it to their cars and bag it there..
 
Interesting to hear some markets are temporarily banning reusable bags.

Haven't had problems here. But on our last trip to a big supermarket, we packed our purchases ourselves. The store didn't have enough baggers and lines were loooonnnnnnngg!
 
Our city ordered grocery stores to go back to the original plastic immediately because they didn’t want clerks to be exposed to those dirtyold cloth bags. We’re previously advised to “launder your cloth bags every day” .Yah, sure....
 
Haha. The grocery store I shopped at a couple days ago had a sign that said: No reusable bags allowed at this time. Only single use, store supplied plastic bags will be used to pack your groceries. Thank you for your patience.

Same here, at he store I shop at. We can bring our own bags, but we need to bag our own groceries. Or have the cashier use the plastic bags. I always wipe down my reusable bags, but I do realize that not all people do.
 
We generally load our groceries directly into our sturdy canvas bags. It's amazing how much we can get into them. They then go into our fold-out square trolley with wheels and long handle. It all fits nicely into the trunk.
 
I'm almost out of my stash of single-use grocery bags!

I'm still resisting the idea of spending money on disposable trash bags.

I've been using the bread bags that I save and have found that one will take care of a week's worth of trash.

Another foolish little experiment by someone with way too much time on their hands! :rolleyes:
 
I think its ridiculous. While I'm all for helping the environment bringing your own bag just isn't convenient in most situations. Plus those little store bags are such great little garbage bags that I always re-use them. Instead maybe they should give people who bring their own bags a discount of a cent or two, since the store saves money on not providing a bag. That seems fair. Or maybe increase the price a cent or two but not more than that. Anything more and they're making money selling bags. Also I wonder if these large stores/corporations "influence" law makers to do this in the guise of saving the planet. It seems pretty convenient that this will save them a ton of money not having to provide millions and millions of bags.
 
I think its ridiculous. While I'm all for helping the environment bringing your own bag just isn't convenient in most situations. Plus those little store bags are such great little garbage bags that I always re-use them. Instead maybe they should give people who bring their own bags a discount of a cent or two, since the store saves money on not providing a bag. That seems fair. Or maybe increase the price a cent or two but not more than that. Anything more and they're making money selling bags. Also I wonder if these large stores/corporations "influence" law makers to do this in the guise of saving the planet. It seems pretty convenient that this will save them a ton of money not having to provide millions and millions of bags.
The grocery store I usually go to does give customers a nickel off their grocery purchases if they bring in their own bags... however, now that this virus is going around they don't want anyone to bring bags in at all.
 


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