Plastic bags and the environment

[jdesmond]

What do you think about plastic bags and their effect on the environment?

[hunghn]

I think plastic bags is a serious issue today. People use them every where and every time. Plastic material takes 100 years to disintegrate. It's so long time. So what we can do for it?

[jdesmond]

What about reusable bags made from 'eco-friendly' products? Maybe we should think about refusing bags when they are offered to us.

[Hardi]

In some stores they ask if you want them to but goods into bag too, probably because they care of environment.. Or maybe they are just too greedy to give that poorest bag out. Some don't ask, they just but it into bag. Probably it depends how much they can effort to pay to clerk. Clerks wont care to take effort to ask, if they don't get paid for it. They work just as packing machines.. Well I have always agreed to take bag too, even though those bags are so cheap, that I throw them later away. I should refuse, but how could I. They're free!

[openenglish]

I use those plastic bags for lining the small trash cans in my house or for picking up after my dog. Still, I think it would be so much better if people used their own reusable bags to carry their groceries.

[fatboypaco]

The plastic bags are very difficult decomposed by natural.

[Cypress]

This problem has been bothering me a lot. I’m glad there are people who care about it.
My husband and I bring our own canvas bags when we go grocery shopping. We bought two of them and they cost us only one dollar each.
In some grocery stores, a clerk would take five cents off my bill just because I use my own bag. In others, they give me a couple options of different organizations (like public library or something similar) to donate the five cents to. Yet in other stores (mostly supermarkets), they don’t care. But in any case, it makes me feel good when I know that I didn’t use that plastic bag.
Over time, I do accumulate some plastic bags at home though. Sometimes when I buy clothes or some other stuff (not food), I get a plastic bag. But I try to use them at home just like openenglish said

I use those plastic bags for lining the small trash cans

But if I cannot use them all, I take them to a local supermarket because they have a recycle bin for plastic bags there.

[Tora]

so good you have started discussing it here!

You can't do without them at all, though in many supermarkets they are no longer free. As many of you I go to the grocery using a linen bag (you know, many of these items are so "glitzy" - my one has beefy men hands on it and an iscription - Advanced solutions for steelmaking ), and also as openenglish I use small plastic bags to carry my dog's litter (there are already and at least two of us - poopickers - in my local area witnessed by me )
Also in a bookshop I ask not to pack the buying.
The more sorrowful is the fact that there is no separate litter collecting cans here, mainly there are no any

[MissLT]

This problem has been bothering me a lot. I’m glad there are people who care about it.
My husband and I bring our own canvas bags when we go grocery shopping. We bought two of them and they cost us only one dollar each.
In some grocery stores, a clerk would take five cents off my bill just because I use my own bag. In others, they give me a couple options of different organizations (like public library or something similar) to donate the five cents to. Yet in other stores (mostly supermarkets), they don’t care. But in any case, it makes me feel good when I know that I didn’t use that plastic bag.
Over time, I do accumulate some plastic bags at home though. Sometimes when I buy clothes or some other stuff (not food), I get a plastic bag. But I try to use them at home just like openenglish said

I use the those plastic bags for lining the small trash cans

But if I cannot use them all, I take them to a local supermarket because they have a recycle bin for plastic bags there.

The two stores I remember right now that use paper bags only are Wholefoods and Trader's Joe. I shop there a lot since paper bags are easier to recycle than plastic bag. Well, some trees will get cut down still, but the paper bag recycling process won't pollute the environment as much as plastic bag's. My mom does her grocery shopping at Asian markets, which give out plastic bags a lot. We use them for trash and cover the ground where that stupid pigeon poops all over.

Also, before we usually threw the grocery ad papers away, but now grandma uses them to wrap the vegetables like burritos before she puts them in a plastic bag. This trick does keep the vegetables fresh and green for a longer time than usual. Nothing is wasted.

[MissLT]

Hi john!!
Super markets should charge customers for their plastic bags.

I got charged 25 cents per bag at IKEA when it was free before. I have to say I was pissed. It's either you buy their bag, bring your own bag, or carry the products out of the store without a bag. What kinda customer service is this!