I was in China a month ago and they started to charge for plastic bags at convenience/grocery/cloth stores. This got me pondering, will we be affected by this trend as well? Or will retailers just raise prices to hide the costs? In a way, it's brilliant. The business earns more revenue and forces consumers to be green and recycle their old bags. When I think about it, it's not such a bad idea. How would you feel if you had to pay an extra five cents to dollar per bag to carry your new product/produce out of the store?
They do this in Europe as well. They have been doing it in Sweden for as long as I can remember...I am 31, so that would be a while The plastic bags are of a better quality and you can actually USE them for other things as well. I do not mind paying for the bags at all, I think it's great! Plus,,,you tend to use less bags when packing your groceries. I hate when the kids that pack groceries only put a few things in each bag. It drives me crazy. I guess I am use to the European way.
A few grocery chains credit you five cents per bag when you use your own. Buy those cloth bags for a buck and you will get your money back in no time
I use those green cloth bags. They're cheap (if not free) and I don't have to deal with all those plastic bags.
Ikea already does it here in the states. Sainsbury's in the UK isn't charging for their plastic bags, but they did take them from the registers. You have to ask your cashier for them, and they will go get you some. But it's kind of a hassle, and you look dumb compared to everyone else and their reusable bags.
In Mexico, people have forever been using morrales or "bags" to bring groceries home. You see housewives carry the ones with the two handles when coming from the store all the time. Mostly, the ones made of nylon threads with colorful plaid finishes are popular. People (store owners, actually) in the United States caught on to the plastic bag stuff because they're cheap to make. Every time I go to the store, the clerk wants to give me ONE FREAKING ITEM in a bag. I politely say: "No bag, please. Thank you."
I was at the Ikea here in Houston this time last year and they were charging five cents a bag, now they've stopped charging for bags.. I wonder if Ikea has changed policy across the US or just here in Houston? I know I don't want to be charged for bags, those are free bathroom trashcan liners at the Davidoff house..
Yesterday, I was at the aisle when I saw for the first time, a Sainsbury recycling bag for only 9p, so I thought 'Hey, might as well, since it's cheap and for charity'. And, well now I have my own recycling bag!
Liek others, I reuse my plastic shopping bags for trash bags and other stuff. It's not so wasteful as all that. I'm so used to it though that I forget to bring a bag to the store with me when I'm in France. (It also annoys me they don't have sackers to bag my groceries.)
I collect those bags and keep them in the garage. We use them for everything. Bathroom trashcan liners, lunch sacks for work, bags for the cat **** when we clean the litterbox, all kinds of crap. We figure if the people at the grocery store INSIST on giving us a separate bag for each item, we're going to at least get some use out of them before we throw them out.
I think some stores in Canada do this too. My memory is spotty, but I remember paying for bags in certain stores. Also Save-A-Lot (cheap, bargain grocery store) in the US. I don't mind at all, I carry used bags in my trunk just in case. Publix (the major SE grocery chain) also has containers in the front where you can drop off your used bags. It annoys me when people bag your stuff and they use one bag per product.
Good question... Last time I purchased things from Ikea was the week before Ike hit, and I was shopping at the one here in the greater Austin area - that's when they charged me for the two bags I used. I went back to that same Ikea about a month ago, but I didn't actually buy anything, so I didn't notice if they still charged for bags or not.
Seattle city council and the mayor passed a bill that would charge a 20 cent fee for each bag received a grocery store (plastic or paper). They also agreed to give everyone in the city a few tote bags for use at the store. There's a pretty strong libertarian anti-tax base up here, and they and the grocers united to get it placed on the ballot this summer. I'm not really sure if it'll pass or not. Seattle will usually implement taxes for environmental reasons, but these days I don't know if they will. We also just implemented mandatory composting a month ago. All food waste goes into separate trash. That is a cool idea.
