this post was submitted on 03 Nov 2024
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I was just thinking about this yesterday. In Washington state, they passed a law awhile back where stores can still give out plastic bags, but they have to be "reusable" (which means they're thicker, which means they use more plastic) and they charge you 8¢ per bag. Most people just pay the 8¢ per bag and walk out with half a dozen of them. I assume they're throwing them away at home, because I can count on one hand the number of times I've ever seen someone actually reuse these bags.
How does this reduce plastic waste? If anything the amount of plastic being thrown away has increased. The per-bag cost far too low to incentivize people to bring their own. Some stores offer a rebate if you supply your own bags, but it's usually 5¢ per bag, which is also too low of an incentive. So what we have is performative "feel good" legislation that ends up making the problem worse. As usual.
A plastic bag tax came into for in the UK a few years back. The fee was minimal, but it was still remarkably effective. It's not the amount, its the fact you have to pay at all. Most people have transitioned to using reusable bags. It's made a significant dent in plastic bag waste.
Yeah, I do that because it was difficult to get into the habit of bringing bags with me. Now I probably have over 109 10¢ plastic bags
But I do reuse them. I’m getting good at remembering to bring them and haven’t had to buy more in months. However sometimes it seems like I’m the only one. I’ve had cashiers be confused about them so it probably really is rare.
My biggest concern is portability - I can fold up these plastic bags and carry a few in pretty much any pocket, but how would I carry cloth bags? Do I need to invest in cargo pants just so I can use reusable grocery bags?
I keep my reusable bags in the car, so when I drive to the store I already have them. If I have to carry them anywhere... Well they are bags after all, so I just put them all into one bag and boom! Bag of bags! And then once I'm in the store, they just go into the basket or cart. Sometimes if I know I'm only buying 1 or 2 items, I'll just bring a single bag into the store and carry it around with me.
There have been a few times where no baskets have been available, so I'll just put the stuff I'm buying directly into the bag, and then take it all out when I get to the checkout counter. It feels weird to do, but no one has ever seemed to care.
I'm a Washingtonian and have thought the same. It has led to more people bringing their own bag(s), though.
I imagine it depends where in the state you live. I'm sure the west side has more people bringing their own bags than the east side.
Oh, no doubt.
The proper way to do this was get like nice cloth bags that cost much more maybe like $10 or something so people actually get the message
Maybe but those $10 bags are so expensive that you’ll never be able to use them enough to be worth it. At least with a 10¢ plastic bag I’m invented to reuse it plus only a few uses is already better for the environment (they are a lot thicker than the older disposable plastic bags but I don’t know how to quantify that)
Let's say you buy groceries every week of the year. That's $10/52 = $0.19. If you use this for 2 years then it will be less than a 10 cent bag.
Now let's say your a wasteful person, and actually spend $10 every single trip, you're gonna be tossing a cloth bag, which isn't as bad as plastic.
Or the 10¢ plastic bags are now reusable …. Now I’m getting into the habit of reusing them, and the cost is rapidly approaching zero. They’re still plastic, but that also means they are lighter, more compact, and they’re an improvement in that I do re-use them many times. It means that yes, I’ve accumulated 100 in my trunk so I always have enough and I’m not afraid to throw one out if it is contaminated
When the cloth bags first came out, I typically saw them for more like $1. Maybe I’m spoiled by that expectation
In Chicago we did the same thing, but we only charge $0.07 per bag, and they're the exact same crappy plastic bags we had before.
we just leave the bags in our car and fill them there