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(Reuters)   Having solved all other problems, NYC poised to "crack down on plastic bags." Wonder what they'll do when they realize you have to kill trees to make paper bags   (reuters.com) divider line
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    More: Stupid  
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2532 clicks; posted to Main » on 29 Oct 2007 at 10:04 PM (15 years ago)   |   Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook



174 Comments     (+0 »)


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timmy_the_tooth
2007-10-29 6:47:50 PM  
I use my backpack for 90% of my groceries.

But keep thinking in dualisms bro!
 
IronTom [TotalFark]
2007-10-29 6:52:17 PM  
you could use leather sacks
 
soze [OhFark]
2007-10-29 6:54:07 PM  
I use my mess bag for mine.

[image from klubhaus.ath.cx too old to be available]

You know you want to lick it.
 
caribou
2007-10-29 6:54:23 PM  
IronTom: you could use leather sacks

Fur bags are classier.
 
Asa Phelps
2007-10-29 7:00:03 PM  
They just want to crack down on plastic bags caught in updrafts.

Looking all free, like they're better than us.
 
SpinStopper
2007-10-29 7:03:11 PM  
I have a kangaroo who carries my groceries in her pouch.

The real problem is her baby that keeps eating my Cheetos ;)
 
filth
2007-10-29 7:12:12 PM  
Plastic vs. paper? Really? I can't believe this debate is coming back. If you look at any other factor than biodegradability, plastic is waaaayyy better for the environment than paper. And guess what happens to paper bags in landfills? They don't farking degrade, and they take up more space than plastic!
 
BobtheFascist
2007-10-29 7:17:04 PM  
I remember when everyone switched to plastic because it was going to save a shiatload of trees.
 
Born2late
2007-10-29 7:19:16 PM  
I always get plastic. Easier to carry and throw away. I recycle some of them, taking my lunch to work and stuff.

Stores shouldn't just give bags away. If they charged a small fee, I bet more people would start using cloth sacks or recycling the bags they've already bought.
 
FormlessOne
2007-10-29 7:19:37 PM  
filth: Plastic vs. paper? Really? I can't believe this debate is coming back. If you look at any other factor than biodegradability, plastic is waaaayyy better for the environment than paper. And guess what happens to paper bags in landfills? They don't farking degrade, and they take up more space than plastic!

It's not. Believe or not, there's a third friggin' option - bring your own bags (or boxes, if you're a Costco shopper) and reuse them repeatedly.

Overmanufacture of anything, no matter how "green," is stupid. The idea is "reduce, reuse, recycle" - if you're just worried about recycling, you've missed two-thirds of the formula. Use less, reuse what you can, and recycle what you can't reuse.
 
jonasborg
2007-10-29 7:34:02 PM  
How about canvas bags? I prefer those
 
xtex
2007-10-29 7:42:14 PM  
FormlessOne: It's not. Believe or not, there's a third friggin' option - bring your own bags (or boxes, if you're a Costco shopper) and reuse them repeatedly.

I'd love to see what would happen if you tried to walk into a Costco with your own boxes. I bet they'd tackle your ass and have you arrested.
 
Bildo
2007-10-29 7:53:24 PM  
The hippies take their own bags. What a shock. Probably made of hemp.

The 299.99 million people in this country that aren't going to take their own bags still need a way to get their groceries home. Care to offer a realistic suggestion?

/Didn't think so...
 
whidbey
2007-10-29 7:53:52 PM  
What's the big deal?

Just make them more bio-degradable...
 
dillenger69
2007-10-29 7:55:03 PM  
filth: Plastic vs. paper? Really? I can't believe this debate is coming back. If you look at any other factor than biodegradability, plastic is waaaayyy better for the environment than paper. And guess what happens to paper bags in landfills? They don't farking degrade, and they take up more space than plastic!

The floatilla of garbage stew twice the size of Texas disagrees with your statement that plastic is better.

Paper is definitely NOT any better of an option though.

The best option is to have your own reusable bags that don't get thrown out after each trip to the store.
 
soze [OhFark]
2007-10-29 8:12:16 PM  
Bildo:

The 299.99 million people in this country that aren't going to take their own bags still need a way to get their groceries home. Care to offer a realistic suggestion?

Okay, how about special bags for your SUV? Would you feel manlier then?

/really, what is manly about inefficiency, anyway?
 
soze [OhFark]
2007-10-29 8:13:35 PM  
Um, crapola. Fark ate the link. Anyhoo, I was trying to link to the Mountainsmith Modular Hauler over at EMS. I assure you it'll look great in your Ford Escape.
 
filth
2007-10-29 8:17:14 PM  
dillenger69: filth: Plastic vs. paper? Really? I can't believe this debate is coming back. If you look at any other factor than biodegradability, plastic is waaaayyy better for the environment than paper. And guess what happens to paper bags in landfills? They don't farking degrade, and they take up more space than plastic!

The floatilla of garbage stew twice the size of Texas disagrees with your statement that plastic is better.

Paper is definitely NOT any better of an option though.

The best option is to have your own reusable bags that don't get thrown out after each trip to the store.

You should read something other than the plastic island stories. Name whichever metric you want, and plastic's better for the environment than paper (less carbon, less pollution from production, ease of recycling). The only arguable one is degradability, and you can make plastic photodegradable, but once stuff goes to the landfill, degradability is a wash.
 
Teafortwo
2007-10-29 8:27:39 PM  
Jebus, not again... They started that here in Quebec too. All the little housewifes are abuzz buying cloth bags to replace their plastic grocery bags, not realizing that the big "save the planet" promo that the supermarkets are pushing is just a way for them to save money, not trees.

And then they end up buying more plastic garbage bags to line their kitchen trash cans or pick up their dog's poo at the park, because they don't have anything else to use.

Damn they even plan to make us pay 0.05$ per bag up here, just to show how politicians are little sheeple who don't mind implementing "Le gout du jour" when it's easy to do and divert attention from other problems. I pay taxes for the recycling truck to pick up my damn plastic refuses, and we even get randomly checked and fined by the green police if I throw away any recyclable in my domestic garbages.

WTF would I steer away from plastic bag if you make me pay to recycle the damn stuff!
 
Bildo
2007-10-29 8:41:27 PM  
"Okay, how about special bags for your SUV? Would you feel manlier then?"

That would be awesome, but they don't make one big enough for my H1.

You still didn't offer a realistic suggestion.
 
discount sushi
2007-10-29 9:11:02 PM  
Born2late: Stores shouldn't just give bags away. If they charged a small fee, I bet more people would start using cloth sacks or recycling the bags they've already bought.

10 cents a bag in Italy. I learned real quick to bring them back over and over. Five people lived in my apartment and we had maybe 10 bags last us 6-9 months.

Nowdays I carry some Trader Joe's reusable bags in my messenger bag.
 
m0llusk
2007-10-29 9:54:08 PM  
Charging impact fees would do it. Capitalism is good fer what ails ya.
 
NancyGracesTesticles
2007-10-29 9:56:43 PM  
caribou: Fur bags are classier.

I put my groceries in hollowed out Indian child laborers.
 
NancyGracesTesticles
2007-10-29 10:02:47 PM  
Teafortwo: I pay taxes for the recycling truck to pick up my damn plastic refuses, and we even get randomly checked and fined by the green police if I throw away any recyclable in my domestic garbages.

I remember the days before Big Recycling realized they could charge more to go house to house to collect recycling than from intercepting it at the landfill.

But hey, 50 dump trucks belching soot and burning diesel while traveling around a city every day is better for the environment.
 
Barakku
2007-10-29 10:06:20 PM  
soze: I use my mess bag for mine.

You know you want to lick it.

I had a bag like that...I usually keep it out of site, unless I was going clubbing that night.
/And seals weren't involved.
//Well, once
 
Crocodile
2007-10-29 10:06:48 PM  
Paper bags don't degrade?
My compost heap would like to subscribe to your newsletter...
 
ScubaDude1960
2007-10-29 10:08:09 PM  
Screw the enviro's. When I shop, I take a bag made out of spotted owls.
 
itazurakko
2007-10-29 10:08:43 PM  
IronTom: you could use leather sacks

Nah that's pussified. Baby seal fur pouches, all the way!!111!!!

In real life I mostly use canvas bags, whatever doesn't fit I get plastic.

Teafortwo: And then they end up buying more plastic garbage bags to line their kitchen trash cans or pick up their dog's poo at the park, because they don't have anything else to use.

Peeve though is that the plastic bags these days are so thin (which generally is good, from a resource and cost POV) that they ALWAYS seem to have a hole in the bottom where the extruder leaves off, so they're pretty worthless for cat litter. By the time you tie it off, what's left of the bag is way too small.

Good enough for dry garbage though, yeah.
 
oldebayer
2007-10-29 10:09:47 PM  
Plastic is far better than paper. The New Mexico landscape would not be nearly so beautiful without innumerable plastic bags stuck on trees, cactuses, barbed wire fences, tumbleweeds and cattle horns. I moved here two years ago, and have a big tree in front and two smaller ones in the back yard that have never been free of plastic bags, not to mention the open field across the street, which features hundreds.

Most of them have blown here from landfills.

/I have a fireplace, so I always ask for paper. Plastic sucks.
 
gradatim
2007-10-29 10:10:18 PM  
It wouldn't be as much of a problem if baggers/clerks put more than four things in each bag.

When I do the "self checkout" thing I always wind up with half as many bags as when I use one of the manned checkout lanes, for the same amount and type of stuff.

(Actually, it's management's fault. They insist that clerks/baggers divide your crap into several distinct categories. Which is a good idea in a way, but it's really not necessary.)
 
TxRabbit
2007-10-29 10:10:56 PM  
Well...we could go back to using those people we used back in the 19th century. That worked out really well.
 
NeuroticRocker
2007-10-29 10:10:59 PM  
remember all those commercials from back in the day that said "thank god for plastic" or something.

I live in Queens, so fark NYC. I'm burning all my plastic bags and garbage bags in my rubbermaid trash can now.
 
The_Pink_Pimp
2007-10-29 10:11:18 PM  
xtex: FormlessOne: It's not. Believe or not, there's a third friggin' option - bring your own bags (or boxes, if you're a Costco shopper) and reuse them repeatedly.

I'd love to see what would happen if you tried to walk into a Costco with your own boxes. I bet they'd tackle your ass and have you arrested.


No we wouldn't. You obviously aren't a member.
 
soy_bomb
2007-10-29 10:11:53 PM  
I use the environmentally sound reusable baby seal skin bag when I go I shopping at the grocery store. I like the quality so much since they switched to cricket bats. The bags are much smoother now.
 
AtomicRoBo
2007-10-29 10:12:30 PM  
There's so much beauty in the world I feel like I can't take it, like my heart's going to cave in.
gonemovies.comView Full Size
 
itazurakko
2007-10-29 10:12:48 PM  
oldebayer: Plastic is far better than paper. The New Mexico landscape would not be nearly so beautiful without innumerable plastic bags stuck on trees, cactuses, barbed wire fences, tumbleweeds and cattle horns. I moved here two years ago, and have a big tree in front and two smaller ones in the back yard that have never been free of plastic bags, not to mention the open field across the street, which features hundreds.

Here in the midwest we have no-till cornfields. The corn is harvested, but the ground left with the stubby broken off stalks, a few inches out of the ground. These of course catch plastic bags and other plastic garbage like crazy, particularly at the increasingly common rural and strip-mall interface. It's crazy how many bags are there flapping in the wind.
 
PCX
2007-10-29 10:13:48 PM  
People are too asinine to carry bags.

Ideally a thicker clear plastic bags made for reuse would work.

Charge 50c for them at the checkout, then return the 50c at the door. This would also give someone a job...

/now hiring bag ladies
 
VOCSL5
2007-10-29 10:13:53 PM  
I alternate between all three - paper turns into my paper/cardboard recycling receptacle, plastic makes a great garbage bag for someone living alone, and canvas/messenger for when everything fits and isn't too heavy.

/messenger bag for liquor/wine bottles. Paper: too obvious, and plastic fails.
//yakpak
 
Wombatzu
2007-10-29 10:14:04 PM  
AtomicRoBo

barely beat me to it...
 
AtomicRoBo
2007-10-29 10:16:30 PM  
Wombatzu:

I was afraid I spent too much time looking for a screen cap of the actual plastic bag.
 
manimal2878
2007-10-29 10:17:18 PM  
Born2late: I always get plastic. Easier to carry and throw away. I recycle some of them, taking my lunch to work and stuff.

Stores shouldn't just give bags away. If they charged a small fee, I bet more people would start using cloth sacks or recycling the bags they've already bought.

It's what they do in europe.
 
evaned
2007-10-29 10:17:43 PM  
filth: Plastic vs. paper? Really? I can't believe this debate is coming back. If you look at any other factor than biodegradability, plastic is waaaayyy better for the environment than paper. And guess what happens to paper bags in landfills? They don't farking degrade, and they take up more space than plastic!

I suggest you listen to filth.

For some reason, I suspect he knows what he's talking about, but I'm having a hard time putting my finger on exactly why I would trust filth in that way...
 
DubhGrian
2007-10-29 10:17:57 PM  
Plastic = Oil
Paper = Tree

Both need conserving.

Why are humans so retarded?
 
Padman
2007-10-29 10:18:10 PM  
Plastic bags are made by the petroleum industry.
In fact most plastics are, enjoy peak oil.
 
twfeline
2007-10-29 10:19:04 PM  
Just takes a little discipline.

I keep a couple of cloth/canvas grocery sacks in the car.

Better than hunting down and then carrying those little baskets with the wire handles that cut into my hands when I have a heavy load.
 
Gothmolly
2007-10-29 10:19:05 PM  
NYC can DIAF. "A land defiled, diseased beyond all healing, unless the great Sea should wash in and cover it with oblivion."

/all hail global warming
//Canary Island Tsunami FT-farkin'-W
 
AtomicRoBo
2007-10-29 10:21:37 PM  
evaned = filth

/Either that, or one helluva man crush.
 
mikaloyd [OhFark]
2007-10-29 10:22:07 PM  
Wonder what they'll do when they realize you have to kill trees to make paper bags

This is where the former New York debs and their plastic surgeons get to make a stand for the planet

Make bags from the skin folds removed during facelifts, buttlifts, and apres-liposuction skin tightening and you wont need to kill trees.

Save the debutantes, save the world
 
PCX
2007-10-29 10:22:52 PM  
The Walmart reusable bag exchange system closed down when someone took one to a lab and found semen on the bottom. From a horse.

Green plastic bags would be invisible in the summer and kinda pretty in the winter.

Red, green, and white bags would make it look like xmas year around...

The problem isn't be bags, it's the lack of creativity.
 
yotta
2007-10-29 10:23:18 PM  
oldebayer: Most of them have blown here from landfills.

Sounds like they are having difficulty with the concept of landfill.
 
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