The Left: We Need To Use Plastic Bags To Save Trees And The Environment

[Independent thinker]

I use cloth bags. Do you?

Shit no.

 

[Independent thinker]

I tried to get into a home business of making custom totes for whatever one needed them for.

But like everything else I have tried as a home business........everybody claims they WANT what I can do, but does NOT want to pay for it!!

Exactly. Reminds me of a local restaurant several years ago adding a bunch of healthy choices on the menu and then having to take them back off a year or two later. The owner said he got a whole lot of compliments on the healthy choices but his customers would always say something like, "Good to know for next time but today I'll order the cheeseburger and fries".

 

[Independent thinker]

I do not recall anyone saying we had to use plastic bags to save the environment, do you have a link.

The city I just moved out of voted in a 10 cents per bag tax for all plastic bags at any store. It is a minor cost but I now use nothing but reusable bags when i shop even if I am not shopping in that city.

It was a good thing and I am glad I voted for it.

Why do you think they switched from paper to plastic decades ago?

 

[MinTrut]

I do not recall anyone saying we had to use plastic bags to save the environment, do you have a link.

The city I just moved out of voted in a 10 cents per bag tax for all plastic bags at any store. It is a minor cost but I now use nothing but reusable bags when i shop even if I am not shopping in that city.

It was a good thing and I am glad I voted for it.

Many use the plastic shopping bags for their trash.

Now that this option is gone for many, they'll have to buy plastic trash bags.

The entire thing is a massive $¢am.

 

[Independent thinker]

We use biodegradable bags for ours. What is the other option when walking your dog, just leave their shit in someone's yard?

Over the years I have often laughed at people taking their dogs out for a "walk" to go poop on someone else's lawn, while those people take their dogs out for a "walk" to poop on your lawn. It's rather comical.

 

[Independent thinker]

so you carry the filth from your home and car into a store where we buy food

very unclean

Yup, during Covid and all.

 

[MinTrut]

We use biodegradable bags for ours. What is the other option when walking your dog, just leave their shit in someone's yard?

Green bags.

Many municipalities have dispensers along popular dog walking routes.

But dogs - and cats - are MUCH worse for the environment than plastic bags.

 

[Independent thinker]

I wash my reusable bags once or twice a month and wash fruits and vegetables.

In other words, you're trying to say you are more concerned about yourself than you are for other people.

 

[MinTrut]

Why do you think they switched from paper to plastic decades ago?

Much cheaper.

 

[Harpy Eagle]

Why do you think they switched from paper to plastic decades ago?

They are far cheaper for the grocery stores

 

[Harpy Eagle]

Over the years I have often laughed at people taking their dogs out for a "walk" to go poop on someone else's lawn, while those people take their dogs out for a "walk" to poop on your lawn. It's rather comical.

Dogs need exercise, as long as everyone cleans up after their dog it is all good

 

[Catsnmeters]

Oh, wait a minute, we discovered plastic bags pollute the environment. Guess we were wrong. Bring back the paper bags because we were wrong on this one. But, we're right about everything else. Just trust us.

Public reaction to this state’s new plastic bag law has been shocking: ‘It makes me wonder’

"There are some stores that have already phased them out because it's just easier to do it now than later.”

www.yahoo.com

They made this law a couple years ago in my state.

Admittedly I was annoyed at first but after buying up a small collection of large cloth bags, it isn't a big deal.

Sometimes you forget them in the car and pay a few cents extra for very sturdy plastic bags; they don't use the flimsy ones anywhere that I have been.

Most people in my area don't seem to mind either, which was surprising as it is heavily conservative.

 

[Independent thinker]

When my dog was alive I walked him in the park near my home. The park was very near the high school. Kids would race through that park on their bikes.

I was carrying a used plastic bag from the local bakery as my poop bag. Being a conscientious person I picked up random dog poop. My bag had a goodly amount. Without warning a high school boy tore by me snatching my bakery bag and stuffing it into his jacket. He turned laughing "Thanks, bitch.") He thought he got away with my pastries.

Reminds of two funny stories:

1. I knew someone who raked leaves off close to the road in front of their house and some punk teenager would come driving through them just about every time, scattering them all over the place. One day the homeowner decided to put a bunch of rocks by the side of the road and covered them up with leaves. Sure enough, that teenager came through again. Didn't end so well for his car.

2. I used to manage a pizza hut and some young teenage punks would regularly run in, steal pizzas setting out for carryout orders, and take off. One day a waitress spotted what she thought were the kids outside so I put out several empty pizza boxes in the takeout area and sure enough, the kids ran in and swiped them and I took off after them. They never swiped another pizza again.

As funny as they were, your's is funnier.

 

[Independent thinker]

They are far cheaper for the grocery stores

That's not why they switched.

 

[Harpy Eagle]

That's not why they switched.

Of course it is. You think those stores cared about anything but the bottom line?

 

[EvilCat Breath]

Reminds of two funny stories:

1. I knew someone who raked leaves off close to the road in front of their house and some punk teenager would come driving through them just about every time, scattering them all over the place. One day the homeowner decided to put a bunch of rocks by the side of the road and covered them up with leaves. Sure enough, that teenager came through again. Didn't end so well for his car.

2. I used to manage a pizza hut and some young teenage punks would regularly run in, steal pizzas setting out for carryout orders, and take off. One day a waitress spotted what she thought were the kids outside so I put out several empty pizza boxes in the takeout area and sure enough, the kids ran in and swiped them and I took off after them. They never swiped another pizza again.

As funny as they were, your's is funnier.

I hope he got all the way to school before he figured it out.

 

[LordBrownTrout]

When you consider the entire life cycle of packaging, paper and cardboard represent far greater environmental impact than their plastic equivalents. A recent ULS report comparing plastic and paper bags concluded that:

1. Plastic bags generate 39% less greenhouse gas emissions than uncomposted paper bags and 68% less greenhouse gas emissions than composted paper bags.
2. Plastic bags consume less than 6% of the water needed to make paper bags. It takes 1,004 gallons of water to produce 1,000 paper bags and 58 gallons of water to produce 1,500 plastic bags.
3. Plastic grocery bags consume 71% less energy during production than paper bags. Significantly, even though traditional disposable plastic bags are produced from fossil fuels, the total non-renewable energy consumed during their lifecycle is up to 36% less than the non-renewable energy consumed during the lifecycle of paper bags and up to 64% less than that consumed by biodegradable plastic bags.
4. Using paper bags generates five times more solid waste than using plastic bags.
5. After four or more uses, reusable plastic bags are superior to all types of disposable bags — paper, polyethylene, and compostable plastic, across all significant environmental indicators.

Environmental Impact of Plastic vs. Paper, Perfect Packaging

Plastic bags outperform paper bags environmentally – on manufacturing, on reuse, and on solid waste volume and generation.

perfectpackaging.org

Not to mention all of the benefits of plastics for sea life:

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch Hosts Life in the Open Ocean

Coastal plants and animals are thriving on the plastic debris, posing potential ecological risks

www.smithsonianmag.com

"Scientists have discovered that coastal critters and plants like crabs, anemones and seaweed have found a way to survive in the open ocean by colonizing rafts of floating plastic debris. An accumulation of trash known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is acting as a new type of ecosystem, ferrying species hundreds of miles from their usual coastal habitat into the high seas.

In the work published this month in Nature Communications, researchers found that marine species like barnacles, brittle stars and shrimp-like crustaceans called isopods living among the garbage patch that floats roughly halfway between the coast of California and Hawaii. The species appear to be thriving on rubbish rafts despite harsh conditions of the open ocean, where there’s often little food and shelter."

 

[MinTrut]

That's not why they switched.

Incorrect; it's all about the Benjamins.

 

[MinTrut]

When you consider the entire life cycle of packaging, paper and cardboard represent far greater environmental impact than their plastic equivalents. A recent ULS report comparing plastic and paper bags concluded that:

1. Plastic bags generate 39% less greenhouse gas emissions than uncomposted paper bags and 68% less greenhouse gas emissions than composted paper bags.
2. Plastic bags consume less than 6% of the water needed to make paper bags. It takes 1,004 gallons of water to produce 1,000 paper bags and 58 gallons of water to produce 1,500 plastic bags.
3. Plastic grocery bags consume 71% less energy during production than paper bags. Significantly, even though traditional disposable plastic bags are produced from fossil fuels, the total non-renewable energy consumed during their lifecycle is up to 36% less than the non-renewable energy consumed during the lifecycle of paper bags and up to 64% less than that consumed by biodegradable plastic bags.
4. Using paper bags generates five times more solid waste than using plastic bags.
5. After four or more uses, reusable plastic bags are superior to all types of disposable bags — paper, polyethylene, and compostable plastic, across all significant environmental indicators.

Environmental Impact of Plastic vs. Paper, Perfect Packaging

Plastic bags outperform paper bags environmentally – on manufacturing, on reuse, and on solid waste volume and generation.

perfectpackaging.org

No to mention all of the benefits of plastics for sea life:

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch Hosts Life in the Open Ocean

Coastal plants and animals are thriving on the plastic debris, posing potential ecological risks

www.smithsonianmag.com

"Scientists have discovered that coastal critters and plants like crabs, anemones and seaweed have found a way to survive in the open ocean by colonizing rafts of floating plastic debris. An accumulation of trash known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is acting as a new type of ecosystem, ferrying species hundreds of miles from their usual coastal habitat into the high seas.

In the work published this month in Nature Communications, researchers found that marine species like barnacles, brittle stars and shrimp-like crustaceans called isopods living among the garbage patch that floats roughly halfway between the coast of California and Hawaii. The species appear to be thriving on rubbish rafts despite harsh conditions of the open ocean, where there’s often little food and shelter."

^ Massive thread win.

I was too lazy to post all this, but the whole bag thing is a massive scam, with paper much worse for the environment than plastic.

THANK YOU for posting this.

 

[OldFlame]

Of course it is. You think those stores cared about anything but the bottom line?

So you're claiming that there was no push to stop using paper bags because it was destroying the forests? Just because it worked out financially for the grocery stores doesn't mean there wasn't a big push to end using paper bags.