Plastic is the devil. Which is interesting, considering that plastic was introduced as the savior of the environment. “Use plastic bags to carry your groceries and you’ll be saving trees, the world, and, therefore, your souls.” But, now we’ve learned the error of our ways and it is on to the next. Round and round we go…
So, in California a law has been signed that outlaws the use of plastic bags in big chain stores starting next July, and rolled out to all stores in 2016. Instead, consumers are being urged to use cloth bags or pay a surcharge for the use of paper bags. (Wait, aren’t paper bags bad for the environment too? Isn’t that why we started using plastic in the first place. Now I’m confused… But, I’m sure the ten cents per bag is being used to fund tree planting operations, right? I’m sure that makes it okay.)
But, since we have proven to be shortsighted on these decisions in the past (really, who could have known all those plastic bags would wind up in riverbeds and clinging to the fences and shrubs that line our roads?) it does beg the question: when cloth bags are determined to also be bad for the environment (water wasted washing them?) or our health (unwashed or improperly washed bags make lovely homes for salmonella) what device for carrying our groceries will be forced upon us next?
How about reusing cardboard boxes to store and transport groceries like Costco and Trader Joe’s do? Since the stores receive their goods in boxes in the first place, what happens to those? They should definitely be given out to consumers to transport the goods rather than manufacturing new cloth bags for everyone to buy, spoil, and trash. Right? (I suggest buying copious amounts of stock in cardboard companies right now! Buy early and often, as I always say. (Yes, I say the same about voting.)) And then, being good stewards of the environment, as we have unanimously shown over the course of human “civilization,” I’m sure all those consumers would recycle the cardboard boxes after they were done with them. Right? (They certainly wouldn’t find their way to landfills or riverbeds or city streets…)
Though, there probably aren’t enough boxes to accommodate all purchases on a daily basis, so that option isn’t entirely feasible. Dilemma, am I right? But, why do we need bags (or boxes) at all? Everything was in a cart (or buggy, if you prefer) or basket in the store, why can’t we all just push the carts to our cars and load everything up directly like that? The onus should be on car manufacturers to install grocery receptacles in trunk spaces rather than trying to figure out how to get the goods from the store to the car in the first place. We already do that. Every time. The goods always show up at our cars (like magic), so why do we need something additional to make that happen? We don’t! Problem solved.
We in the kingdom plan on taking that route, forgoing bagging contraptions altogether: one less thing to worry about! (I’m always forgetting those stupid reusable bags anyway.) But, we’d love to hear your solutions. Do you have a brilliant idea? Do you have a ridiculous idea? We are open for both and everything in-between. This is California, after all.
The Matticus Kingdom 
wait… why can’t the big trucks that take the food to the grocery stores just deliver the food right to our houses… then we don’t need bags… or grocery stores…
I think some stores do offer delivery… but, that’s from the stores to your house… not from the farms to house. I like your idea, actually, bypass the middlemen and get the goods directly from the farms and companies that produce. Well, as soon as Amazon perfects their drones… we’ll be all set. What could possibly go wrong?
I would like a loaf of bread, some milk, and… hey… I didn’t order a Hellfire missile!!!
We provide those free of charge with every order over $10.
I would like to place an $11 order for Dick Cheney,,,
I had to do that one time, load all the groceries onto the back seat because I forgot my bags at Aldi and they didn’t have any spare boxes.
(my car doesn’t have a trunk, as a hatchback, so backseat was the lesser of two awkwards)
And the groceries made it home safely right? See, I’m not so sure we need bags at all! It’s going to be a grand experiment.
I’m actually on board with the banning of plastic bags after having seen pictures of the great trash island (or whatever it’s called) in the Pacific. Something’s gotta give.
I use the reusable cloth bags. I haven’t had to wash them at all since I haven’t spilled anything on them.
I’m not sure it’s just about spills. If you put any fruit and veggies in them directly there are contaminants that can build up and turn into something unhealthy… Honestly, I don’t think I’m just making that up, I have heard that unwashed bags can house salmonella, but I haven’t done any of the research to back up that claim.
I don’t see how it could. Everything comes in it’s own containers…
Where do you shop? Individual containers? I wonder how long before that too gets outlawed…
True. Most of those are plastic…
Ah yes, the West coast being the progressive coast… Out here, the options are “paper or plastic”, which I remember from the early 2000s as well…
Isn’t there a flaw in your plan, though? How will you get the groceries from your car into your house? I suppose if the future grocery receptacles could be removed and re-installed that would solve it.
From the car to the house? From the car parked in the garage through the back door directly into the kitchen? I guess one armload at a time. Hey, that will even get me some extra exercise. It’s great for the environment and for me! It’s a win-win.
Oh you’re one of those lucky people… My kitchen is on the opposite side of anywhere I could park my car. 😛
I think you just aren’t being creative enough with this… borrow a bull dozer or wrecking ball and make it happen!!
You deleted your “like” button? Now I am forced to leave a comment to let you know I’ve been HERE. I agree about plastic, have been using cloth bags for years. We humans are very wasteful in general.
What? I didn’t mean to delete the like button… whoops, I must have left it off by mistake. I’ll have to fix that.
And, yes, we are very wasteful… which was kind of my point. Every time they think of something new that will be better for us and the environment, we figure out how to waste it, how to exploit it, how to turn it into something negative. It is our “gift” to the world.
Funny, hub and I were talking about that same topic; we’re trying to figure out a gray water system and it’s more difficult that I thought it would be. There’s a waste of brain power too, with all the kids on smartphones and iPads all day, there’s not enough reading or creativity or imagination. I’m OLD!
You aren’t old. You are classic. Like rock and roll classic. 😀
Someone at volleyball this afternoon “sir’ed” me. Crap, now I feel old. I think that was his intent. The jerk.
I’m with Twin Daddy on this one. I use my own bags most of the time — but what about the messy stuff — the chicken, for example. For the rest of the stuff I agree, we need to cut down the plastic. But I don’t want e coli, either.
E coli!! That was it. Not salmonella (though perhaps it is a concern too.) And, yeah, meat products (even in their pre-wrappings) are very leaky and can definitely release some bad things into any device that is being re-used.
I’m not against cloth bags. I was just trying to have a bit of fun with yet another nanny-state law.
Actually, you can get both. Salmonella is what my husband nags about when I eat cookie dough.
But cookie dough is totally worth it. Totally. In fact, I’m eating some now… and now… and now….
and now…
It is. What a happy way to go (which is exactly what I say as I have another little bite …
I am guilty of not using my cloth bags as much as I should. This is mostly because I forget to put them in my car after I use them. But, I do a significant amount of my shopping at Costco, and I do recycle my boxes when I come home… That counts, right?
I give you full credit! 😀
We have cloth bags that live in all of our cars, so even if we forget to take all of them with us, there is usually at least one or two that we can take in with us.
I’m the kind of person who tends to show up at the grocery store without her list… or wallet… or shoes, and certainly without her cloth bags. I also like paper bags, they make great under the sink garbage bags, and without my paper bags I’d have to buy plastic garbage bags and that just seems silly.
I’ve been told that most paper bags are made from recycled materials already so they aren’t cutting down any more trees for us to use those. So, I’m on board with user paper bags again! I’m just not going to pay 10 cents per bag. I’ll buy bulk and bring my own with me. 😉
How about just ordering online and having them delivered.
That would be an interesting study – what is actually worse for the environment – the waste from the excessive packaging for online deliveries and the waste of gas and release of carbon dioxide to get the delivery trucks to my door? Or… the extra water needed to properly clean a cloth bag? Or… recycyled material paper bags? Or… single use plastic bags?
True. I like the way the Jetson’s ate. All they needed was a capsule which when swallowed provided their full meal. No cooking, no cleaning up, no shopping!
Yes, we need that. Now. I’m not even joking. You had at me at no more cleaning. No more dishes. No more wasted time spent elbow deep in a sudsy sink.
We must make this happen! lol
i agree about the plastic, as well as the germy illness from unwashed bags. i just ask for paper, and if an item doesnt need a bag,, I tell them not.to bag it.
Hooray for sanity amongst the madness. Yes, I’m always telling them I don’t need a bag. I’m not sure why I bother, though, considering the checkers seem intent upon putting a single item in a bag and calling it good enough and moving on to the next item/bag, and on and on…
Cloth bags.
Above all, they are easier to load and carry than plastic or paper.
What if we all just carry around bins on our heads…I feel like there is a precedent for that, right?
I can’t believe you’re making fun off my flat head.
Sheesh.
We use the re-usable ones. I have some pretty cool re-usable ones. At Costco I do take the groceries to the car and bag them myself in my re-usable bags at the car. It works out just fine. I do forget them sometimes when I go to the store, but they work, and we’re good with that. 🙂
Once upon a time in the UK, Sainsbury’s stores would put their cardboard boxes at the back by the checkouts for the customers to use. Now, however, they’re not allowed to do that because of health & safety and fire risks and other such annoyances.
And when I was a kid, my parents would always take reusable bags shopping with them. It was the norm. I guess we’ve just got out of that habit and got too used to the convenience of being able to pick up bags in the store.
All right, DJ, I’m claiming the crown on this one. I have a push cart that I take to the grocery store. I push it around, and collect my groceries, then take them through checkout and replace them. I wheel that puppy right into my kitchen and put it all away. Then I wipe down the cart nad store it for next time.
I’ll be just over here, doing a touchdown dance. 😀
You win.
Congratulations.
We should all take push carts with us from now on!!
Actually, what I *really* want to do is grow my own food. I’m going to start by turning Fishy’s tank into an aquaponics garden. Oh, yeah!
Now you are just showing off.
Not until I actually do it. Then I’ll show off. 😀