Preposterous! They don't offer the ubiquitous Have A Nice Day with the yellow Smiley Face one.

The busybodies are planning this nonsense in NYC now too, and I'm sure it will pass. I reuse grocery store plastic bags as garbage bags. I haven't bought real garbage bags in years, but now I'll have to. And what about the plastic bag manufacturers... they'll lose their jobs!

@CallDoctorBison Feel free to pay the bag fee and continue using your grocery store bags as garbage bags. Or just buy proper garbage bags. Either way, I'm sure you'll survive. I'm not too concerned with the plastic bag industry.

We should do this everywhere.

And . . . a chiffon tote? I guess I have to read up on chiffon, but it doesn't sound like it'd be very strong. Also, the price is way too high --- you can get three lovely, strong, colorful Baggu totes for less than the price of one listed here. Or one Baggu for about $10!

I would love to see more places ban these bags. The fewer plastic bags there are in the world, the better. If more people made an effort to recycle them, I might change my opinion. However, considering how many of them I see in the trash and blowing around in the street, I'm in favor of bans. I've been using canvas bags for years now, as well as some made from recycled plastic. I prefer the canvas ones, however. I just picked up 4 new canvas bags at Trader Joe's- $4 each and made in the USA also!

Yeeeah, seriously? Chiffon? I applaud the idea and design, but come on. I'm not going to pay $40+ for a grocery bag.

I happen to sell these same bags in a durable nylon fabric for only $5 each. Please check out my store if you're interested.

www.etsy.com/shop/jelledge

I am all for the bans. I was so so happy when the ban took place in LA County. I was so sick of going ot the grocery store and seeing things get double bagged, or worst one item in a bag.

An even though some are recyclable, they are a pain to recycle. Just not worth it.

An for those complaining that they dont' have trash bags now for their trash cans...just you know buy some. Here: http://amzn.com/B004W0OE9M for under 20 bucks you can have over 2 years of trash bags even if you change the bag weekly. Seriously, this is the LAST thing you should be complaining about.

My favorite (small reusable) bags are the original Chico bags (http://www.chicobag.com/category/original).

They easily fit into a little attached bag (oh never mind, I can't describe it, just look at the image). I can fit two of these thin-but-strong bags into my small purse. My two are 3-years-old and still going strong. They were 6 bucks at a local store. Cheap, useful, and long-lasting. Perfect. Those sold by jelledge8 look nice as well.

I'm sure a lot of people reuse them for dog poo pickup also. In my neighborhood, most people already use the reusable totes without having to be forced. I'm obviously in the minority here, but I don't think big brother should be mandating the behavior of law-abiding consumers and business. I don't care if it only costs me 10 cents, I just can't get on board with a law dictating whether or not I may use a Plastic Bag. And from what I can tell, there is a lack of conclusive evidence that plastic bags do as much harm as people seem to think.

I use my plastic bags for various things and then, when they're getting kind of old, I use them as trash bags. So, lots of use out of one bag. And yet you think it's somehow better for the environment to buy a BOXED set of bags that are usually much THICKER plastic for the sole purpose of throwing out garbage? So non-sensical.

Somewhere, the Man From Glad is sitting on an overstuffed gilded chair, petting his indifferent Persian cat and laughing maniacally.

I use the grocery bags for trash disposal. Haven't bought a Kitchen Catcher in decades. Fortunately Vancouver is not yet talking about implementing similar measures, but individual stores (Whole Foods, others) are proceeding with paper bags or no-bags.

@CallDrBison I would like to know with which studies you have an issue. Many studies have proven plastic harms the oceans, endangered species and our health. I will post studies for you if you promise to read and comment on them here. If you don't want to be forced to take the simple step of having a reuseable bag, then I shouldn't be forced to live with your pollution.

@astams Trash bags can stretch and store one heck of a lot more than flimsy grocery bags. There are also biodegradeable alternatives to trash bags. Do you compost? If you do, you'll use many many fewer garbage bags per week.

QUOTE: I don't think big brother should be mandating the behavior of law-abiding consumers and business

@ CallDoctorBison: FINALLY the voice of reason amidst one of these incessant debates.

Oh, wait...here's another one from a.stams:

QUOTE: And yet you think it's somehow better for the environment to buy a BOXED set of bags that are usually much THICKER plastic for the sole purpose of throwing out garbage? So non-sensical.

Any of you *ranters* ever stop to wonder why Big Brother doesn't attack the plastic industry directly? No? Maybe now's a good time.

Whenever an issue becomes political, I'm immediately skeptical of the so-called scientific evidence. I'm no expert, but this article raises some questions:

http://www.realclearscience.com/articles/2012/07/31/plastic_bag_bans_just_another_eco-fad_106336.html

Too flimsy. I have been using Blue Q bags for a couple years and can't recommend them enough. They stand upright for loading, hold pounds and pounds of stuff, have long straps for carrying over the shoulder, are sturdy enough to hold up to cleaning with sani-wipes, and they come in super-snazzy designs.

I look forward to a post-plastic-bag world. The plastic bag lobby has been holding this off for too many years.

Yesterday I spotted a Portland hipster skateboarding to the grocery store. But he had his reusable bag in his hand. Right on!

I usually use reusable bags, but I'd still like the disposable bag option. I don't always have reusable bags with me when I travel, for example. The combination I hate is at IKEA, where you don't get bags unless you buy the giant blue bag, and you can't take your cart away from the front of the store. I wish I could wheel the cart to the car and unload my coffee cups or other impulse purchases directly into the car. (Yes, I know the giant bag is useful, but how many do you need?)

Just because you use them as garbage bags that doesn't change the fact that overall those bags produce tons and tons of garbage per day and many countries don't even have a proper recycling industry. And yeah, other people who worked in production companies that screwed up the environment also lost their jobs in the past. How did all the European countries like Germany manage who already have those policies since decades?

Honestly, I'd have to agree with CallDoctorBison. Why are we letting the government control individual consumers instead of the big businesses where these problems start? Why are we not going after the product manufacturers who use way too much plastic in their packaging? It's laughable to watch people take their reusable bags and fill them with single-serve packaged chips and 100 calorie packs. I don't like being told what to do when the companies doing the real harm have a free pass.
If we're going to implement this kind of control how about we start telling people they can't drive gas guzzling SUVs by themselves to work everyday, or to the supermarket that is one mile away? Let's stop being distracted by light bulbs and plastic bags...

@prisonprism I totally agree. Bans are kind of a joke because they're not bans at all, they're taxes. The government should have put their foot down and told stores, no more. Stop carrying bags and tell consumers that they simply don't have any. Understand that the plastic bag bans were not jump-started by government but rather by citizens in their individual towns who collected petitions to start them. The govt went about it all wrong but ultimately it was regular folks who were sick and tired of seeing plastic bags littering their rivers and forests. I think people are getting the message about overpackaging but it takes time to transition. We limit our packaged items to just a few things like cheese, meat and chocolate - most of the rest of it is in glass (milk, juice) and everything else is produce from markets with no packaging.

You're so right about SUVs. Cars in general are also a problem sadly it's really up to the government to fund railroads and better bike options since the super-wealthy are busy giving all their cash to bullcrap organizations like Komen.

@Emmi, you are definitely right. I got a little excited and jumped the gun there. :) I understand that the common people were the ones who started the bans. I think it’s great that people can do things like this, and really show that they’re fed up with the way things are. It’s exciting to see how we can actually make a difference on a larger scale. I just wish it didn’t take taxes and bans in order for people to do the right thing. I get caught up in my utopia where people take personal responsibility because they want to, not because they have to. I wish everyone shopped like you do, that is great. Unfortunately, we’re still pretty far off!
Getting the government to pay into railroads and bike paths seems almost impossible, which is quite sad. But yes, I agree it is all cars that cause problems. It all comes down to personal responsibility again…I wish there was more of it. And it goes without saying that I don’t think big corporations and manufacturers should be exempt from personal responsibility. You had me laughing with that Komen comment...too true!

Politics aside, I favor reusable bags for the simple reason that I have NEVER EVER seen a tree or bush near my house in which cloth bags have become entangled. But I have seen plastic bags doing that. And I've never, or maybe almost never, seen reusable bags tumbling around on the street, the way I see plastic bags.

@Prisonprism totally agree - would be nice if people just took the initiative! :)

I was in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky yesterday where the plastic bags are strewn throughout the landscape. What a dream it would be to ban these bags (and plastic water / soda bottles) in this part of the world.

Oh yeah, CallDoctorBison, your God-given right to convenience and free plastic bags trumps the environment, obviously.

No, not really.

For anyone who's not a totally selfish git, check out what happens to birds who eat plastic junk, including discarded plastic bags: http://www.chrisjordan.com/gallery/midway/#CF000313%2018x24