EVs - New Hampshire gets it right

[drjeff]

It's tough(er) to find paper bags (at no cost atleast) anymore, and yet the 30 yard recycle items only dumpster in my condo complex in VT wants us to only put items in paper bags into it... The right hand isn't talking to the left hand in this one!

 

[chuckstah]

 

[Newpylong]

I say this as an Independent voter who kinda loathes both (far) sides: The same people who banned/want to ban plastic bags are the ones who pushed the grocery stores to use them (and not let you use your reusable bags) during covid. Now that that's done, back to the agenda, being environmentally feel-good when it's convenient.

 

[Harvey]

There is way too much plastic in our waste stream, and that is the reason not to try to reduce it?

 

[BodeMiller1]

I spent time in La Paz, Mexico last year, a town with 250k people. We visited several grocery stores and none of them offered bags of any kind.

Paper straws start to get squishy.

 

[skiur]

There is way too much plastic in our waste stream, and that is the reason not to try to reduce it?

Do you really think the plastic bag bans have an impact? One reusable bag has the same plastic in it as 15 disposable bags. The only ones this ban is helping is the supermarkets that get to sell bags now. A reusable bag has to be reused hundreds of times before it has less of an environmental impact and that just isn't happening. The idea is great but the reality isn't.

 

[BodeMiller1]

There is way too much plastic in our waste stream, and that is the reason not to try to reduce it?

Shopping bags in trees. Broken pens and toys . Rubber is also bad. Have you ever seen a tire in the woods or in a pond?

I want to know exactly what's in my mattress.

 

[Domeskier]

Do you really think the plastic bag bans have an impact? One reusable bag has the same plastic in it as 15 disposable bags....A reusable bag has to be reused hundreds of times before it has less of an environmental impact and that just isn't happening.

I'm not the world's most mathematical guy, but if your premise is right there is a net benefit after just the 16th use....

 

[deadheadskier]

So I do use reusable bags most of the time. But not always. Sometimes they're forgotten, sometimes I'm on vacation etc.

My issue is that there hasn't been any noticeable changes on plastic packaging elsewhere in the stores and THAT is really what is filling the landfills and littering our oceans. And most of that packaging can't be reused where as plastic bags can.

We aren't addressing the problem where it really needs to be addressed. It seems more like optics and a feel good story to me.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

we have a bunch of grocery totes under our sink and in my car. i keep one folded up in my backpack. its pretty rare for me to be at a grocery store without a reusable bag, and when it does happen occasionally the paper bag isnt such a big deal, especially if its the type with reinforced handle straps.

i do use the occasional plastic bag, usually from delivery food, to line small trash cans under my desk and in my bathroom

 

[BodeMiller1]

we have a bunch of grocery totes under our sink and in my car. i keep one folded up in my backpack. its pretty rare for me to be at a grocery store without a reusable bag, and when it does happen occasionally the paper bag isnt such a big deal, especially if its the type with reinforced handle straps.

i do use the occasional plastic bag, usually from delivery food, to line small trash cans under my desk and in my bathroom

You can't make this stuff up. There's no way this happened.

 

[kbroderick]

So I do use reusable bags most of the time. But not always. Sometimes they're forgotten, sometimes I'm on vacation etc.

My issue is that there hasn't been any noticeable changes on plastic packaging elsewhere in the stores and THAT is really what is filling the landfills and littering our oceans. And most of that packaging can't be reused where as plastic bags can.

We aren't addressing the problem where it really needs to be addressed. It seems more like optics and a feel good story to me.

I don't disagree with the premise that we should address the rest of the packaging, but I do think that trying to break people of the "every purchase gets a bag" habit make sense. There are other stores that were ahead of this curve and would do things like keep cardboard boxes and use those for larger purchases, which is admittedly not really feasible in a supermarket.

Also, FFS, why do we pick up produce and put it in a plastic bag? You are going to treat it like it came from outside and has been handled by multiple people, right? So why do we feel a need to pick up four tomatoes and put them in their own little plastic bag? Bonus points if you can get the companies that are shrinkwrapping produce to stop that crap.

What I've observed locally is that the requirement to ask the question: "do you want a bag with that?" and the implication that there is a token price attached makes people actually consider the question. And yes, I've forgotten my reusable (canvas) bags at home and ended up needing to spend 15 cents on paper bags, and I've got a huge stash of paper bags from grocery orders that I will probably never get through.

 

[Domeskier]

Also, FFS, why do we pick up produce and put it in a plastic bag? You are going to treat it like it came from outside and has been handled by multiple people, right? So why do we feel a need to pick up four tomatoes and put them in their own little plastic bag?

Seems like this is more for convenience at checkout than for sanitary reasons. Do we really want the cashier weighing and entering codes for each individual produce item rolling around at the register? I guess they could put barcodes on everything and we can waster water washing off even more sticky residue.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

You can't make this stuff up. There's no way this happened.

dafuq you talking about? there's no way i keep reusable totes in my car and backpack?

 

[KustyTheKlown]

Seems like this is more for convenience at checkout than for sanitary reasons. Do we really want the cashier weighing and entering codes for each individual produce item rolling around at the register? I guess they could put barcodes on everything and we can waster water washing off even more sticky residue.

yea i only take a produce bag if i am getting many potatotes/apples/peppers whatever. because im going to weigh them as one.

 

[Newpylong]

I should have noted on my previous post that I use reusable grocery bags as much as possible. I was more pointing out the "feel good" aspect only when it's convenient for some people. I agree with DHS that the amount of plastic packaging out there is mindboggling and grocery bags pale in comparison. The whole notion of "individually wrapped" items such as deli cheese is a good example of gross waste of a finite resource. We're tackling the wrong things.

 

[ss20]

I thought the concern was more that plastic disposable shopping bags are easier to blow away than anything else, littering the whole landscape rather than making it to the recycling plant or landfill like a majority of plastic waste? I never heard someone justify it with the argument that it would cut down on plastic consumption.

 

[SkiingInABlueDream]

Seems like this is more for convenience at checkout than for sanitary reasons. Do we really want the cashier weighing and entering codes for each individual produce item rolling around at the register? I guess they could put barcodes on everything and we can waster water washing off even more sticky residue.

I'd say it's both convenience and for cleanliness. If we had loose produce rolling around on the checkout conveyor belt it'd become messy pretty quickly.

 

[kbroderick]

yea i only take a produce bag if i am getting many potatotes/apples/peppers whatever. because im going to weigh them as one.

I've never had trouble weighing without a bag—just stack all the apples/peppers/whatever on the scale at once and key in the PLU—but I see the point if you've actually got a larger quantity of round objects. I think I just can't manage to eat that many of one thing between grocery trips.

I'd expect a cashier to do likewise, assuming the like items were grouped on the belt and placed neatly (so as not to be trying to escape every time the belt moves).

 

[Hawk]

The problem with any idea that is meant to help is that people find ways to negate what the original intent was. Look, you have to start somewhere or you go no where. This is what these laws are trying to do. The alternative is ban all plastic altogether? Let's see how that works. You can always find some inconvenience to counter act the measure they are trying to implement. Much like the ICE cars. If you don't start somewhere, you will never implement change that in the longer run will benefit all.

But fuck it. Why change anything? We will all be dead and won't have to deal with the mess. That is the logical conclusion I came up with recently. It's the who cares ideology that seems most have taken up in certain political and socioeconomic groups. Let future generations figure it out. Right? That's what most of you are saying with you disdain for any new ideas. People are quick to shoot things down but never have any options or suggestions to fix any problems. So back to Fuck it.