apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I don't think the intention is to not charge for paper but charge for plastic. I believe all disposable bags will need to be charged for.

Either way, I bring my own bags every where I go. And I get stared at for it constantly.

Since SF banned plastic bags in grocery stores I see more and more folks here carrying tote bags while doing their shopping - after returning from a recent vacation in Europe where they've been doing it for years (they even carry shoulder/messenger-bags to hold their tote bags) it's not such an unusual thing anymore.

I'm actually really excited for this. I've been bringing my own bags for ages, and it's still sometimes difficult to avoid getting plastic bags. Some baggers like to prebag individual items in plastic bags, before placing the item in the larger bag.

OH! And I should add, I think paper bags are far more reusable, at least for my dog poopless lifetstyle, than plastic bags are. But I believe that the ban and charge will apply to all disposable bags.

I read about this in the LA Times earlier this week and I was elated. Although it is a bummer it's taken this long, better late than never.

Looking forward to seeing more Angelenos sporting canvas and reusable totes !!

Aren't there biodegradable plastic-like bags? It seems like Walgreen's here in San Francisco has started using bags made out of something that isn't quite plastic yet definitely is not paper.

oh i have to laugh at the assertion that paper bags are "less reusable" than plastic. aside from the odd bathroom trash can liner (after which they end up in...the trash!) i don't know when i last "reused" a plastic bag. silly bag people. i love my reusable bags.

I am not sure if I understand the whole plastic bag issue. I currently reuse the plastic bags from the grocery store as my garbage bags. If they were to ban them, then I would just have to buy the plastic garbage bags to put my garbage in. It seems to defeat the purpose?? The same amt of plastic is going into the landfill from my garbage.
I live alone and use abt 4 or 5 plastic grocery bags a week for my garbage. A large garbage bag is going to have about that same amt of plastic in it. Or if I buy smaller plastic bags it would be the same amt of grocery bags I would have used.
Maybe I am missing something here?

those of us who use them for pet poo and trash bags - i think the 25 cent charge is just another way to get more money from the consumer. especially since i've been given plastic bags without even asking for them. its like the packers automatically default to doubling plastic bags- that's where the excess comes from! and its impossible to carry paper bags- the handles break.
and i agree with designpirate- we're just going to end up buying plastic bags- or as i said, is that the intention? as if the price of food wasnt bad enough.
at the same time...
i think that carrying around the canvas bags is a great idea.

what i really think would help- teaching the packers how to do their jobs more efficiently. i cant tell you how many times ive had to repack my groceries and find that i didnt need two of the bags they gave me.

i know this all might sound bitter, but i'm sure you can all relate to the extra expenses being forced upon us and the stresses its causing financially and emotionally. its just one more thing we have to worry about.

and ps- how expensive are the bags in that jump! sheesh! call me a tight wade but ouch.

I try to use a canvas bag as much as possible for all my shopping. Even at Christmas, it is nice to say "i will put it in my own bag, thanks" (and the added bonus is the relatives have no idea where I may have been shopping) but even still, I occasionally get heavy items at the grocery store and I do have a plastic bag or two. These are reused as garbage bags.

What ever happened to "reduce, reuse, recycle"? I try to reduce the number I am using, reuse the ones I end up with, and recycle whenever possible.

Another problem with plastic bags (and even biodegradable plastic bags) is that they end up in the ocean and they never biodegrade and they really hurt the sea life out there. There was a great podcast about it on the LA station 90.7 fm KPFK on Sonali's "Uprising" show this morning (7-24).
The point is to reduce! the amount of plastic bags in our lives as much as possible.

I got a couple of ripstop nylon bags for 5$ apiece and keep them in my backpack. The only problem I have is the insulted look the baggers give me when I say "no thanks, I have my own bags"

I got off the plastic grocery bag merry-go-round a few months ago, and used up all the ones collected under my sink. I was so happy and proud of myself!

Then last month we got the cat. I have never wanted plastic bags so bad in my life.

*sigh*

You really can't win.

There's a great selection of reusable totes available at Mermaid Hut, starting at $14.

http://www.mermaidhut.com/Cat-17-1-29-0/Totes__Beach_Mats.htm

Oneformybaby,

It's the Los Angeles City Council that is pushing for the $0.25 charge for a plastic bags, not the retailers. This is a way to put some of the environmental cost on the consumers and help them reconsider the notion that plastic bags are an "easy option" when really the useful lifespan of a plastic bag is usually just from the store to home (like 30 minutes). Then they spend much longer poisoning our waters as a giant mass in the Pacific twice the size of Texas. Yikes.

Though more expensive than the non-biodegradable store brand and Glad products, Biobags will take care of the kitchen trash.
http://www.drugstore.com/products/prod.asp?pid=145872&catid=22191&brand=44918&trx=PLST-0-BRAND&trxp1=22191&trxp2=145872&trxp3=1&trxp4=0&btrx=BUY-PLST-0-BRAND

Does anyone else have a good source for earth-friendly trash bags?

Regarding the "reusing for pet poo and trash can liners" argument: You'll still be able to use bags for pet poo, you'll just have to pay for them. Maybe the bags you purchase will be smaller or thinner. Same with trash can liners. Perhaps you'll find that you don't need to bag all of your trash in plastic; perhaps dry items can go in paper bags.

But arguing against banning free grocery store plastic bags (most of which are not reused, many of which never make it into landfills) because you don't want to pay for bags that you use is weak.

I understand the concerns of people who do actually reuse their plastic bags. The thing is that very few people use grocery bags as garbage bags. And include me among those people. I've found grocery bags to be way too inconvenient to use for garbage bags. They're too small, are very likely to have rips, and don't fit in anything larger than a bathroom trash can.

They lost me at 25 cent fee. Who gets this fee? The government? Hmmm...

And rather than have the government collect (as that might incur the wrath of the voters) they will have that poor low wage grocery checker suffer the wrath instead. And how did this fee come to be 25 cents? Is that some crazy threshold of pain that will have everyone changing their ways, or is it one of those fees designed to be low enough not to change behavior (expect for the poor and disadvantaged) but high enough to generate revenue?

This reminds me of that ballot initiative that was allegedly about stopping eminent domain abuse but was really about dismantling rent control. This ain't about plastic bags, that's for sure. There are much more effective ways to go about that.

I fully understand the environmental issue and I'm in full support, however, I think 25 cents is a lot to charge for a plastic bag. why not 10 cents? and the fact the "government" is enforcing it is even worse! and I'm sorry but wanting to save any amount of money where I can is not weak- i'm glad to know there are people who can throw money away now a days i cant.

Time to bust out my bags made out of dead baby seals. Hand clubbed of course.

Costco has the best carry bags--huge, with shoulder and hand straps, and they're under $4.00.

I found a canvas bag I like, it's my favorite for groceries.

I am old enough to remember a time before plastic bags, and paper bags did not have handles then either. Plastic bags just don't hold very much. The baggers would put a couple things in each, they don't stand up, and everything falls out while you're driving home. They dig into your hand to carry. They're useful for a few things, but people did without them for a long time. They proliferated because they're cheaper to make. What did the urban dwellers do before plastic bags and paper bags with handles?

Here is an interesting calculation for you to do.

How much oil is used to make the plastic bags you consume?

How does that compare with the cooking oil you wash down the drain?

Which is worse for the environment. oil in the drain or a biodegradable bag in landfill?

I did the math for my household and now I'm wondering what the hell is going on?

This whole plastic bag fuss is a red herring, or a deliberate distraction so that we don't start demanding that the real large scale polluters make changes to the way they do things.

The people I feel for in all of this are the poor. $0.25 would be an annoyance to me (but I use reuseable bags), but for someone scraping by as it is to be asked to ante up more to cart their groceries home or suggest they pay $5 per bag for reuseable bags when they might be choosing between paying the rent or buying a pair of shoes for their growing child it seems like we are asking a lot.

It reaffirms my concerns that "living green" is often a luxury reserved for the weathy and decisions like this are being made in a vacuum. Maybe we could put prisoners or those receiving community service sentences to work making canvas bags for low income people and subsidize the program with the money collected from the plastic bags?

While many bags are available for sale, I don't know many people who wouldn't have come by a canvas bag or two for free. It might say something stupid on the outside, well, yeah, that's an elite luxury impediment to carrying a reusable bag. Pass on the $1.00 supermarket reusables. They don't last very long.

Reusable bags at the grocery store cost $1.00 or $1.50, hold more than one plastic bag, and will last for well more than six trips to the store. That's a cost savings in the long run for anyone, poor or wealthy.

Right now, Ralph's gives you five cents back for every reusable bag you use and three cents for every plastic or paper bag you reuse. I wish more stores would do that but I guess they no longer have any need.

I don't know where the $0.25 fee would be allocated, but I would hope it goes towards the cost of disposal as opposed to manufacturing (the retailer already pays for that when they purchase the bags).

There are unseen costs such as collection and disposal costs, city street cleaning costs and landfill costs just associated with plastic bags--which can be several million dollars a year for a large city. I wouldn't be surprised if these costs surpassed $0.25 per bag.

I don't think it's unreasonable to be charged a fee if you're using these services--which, whether or not you realize it, you are using these services when you take plastic bags home.

As much as we may all want to see plastic bags go away I really hate to see MORE government involvement in the issue. What ever happened to our love of freedom? If a shop wants to offer plastic bags, they should be able to do so. As consumers we have the power to "vote with our dollars" to make changes. The more people who bring their own bags, the more stores make changes.

I have seen almost all of the grocery stores in our area start to offer canvas bags for sale. We didn't need the government to step in and tell people what to do. Or to tax them for it!

Seriously, it worries me that people would be so happy about being told by the government that they have to pay more if they want to use plastic. We don't need the government to make laws about these things. Vote with your dollars and actions instead.

Once again L.A. lags behind....Here in Seattle we're banning them from stores this January. Why wait til 2010. That's 2 more years and millions of bags too late!