Plastic bag bans: Here's how the alternatives stack up

[davidc4430]

Plastic bag bans: Here's how the alternatives stack up

http://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2018-06-20/plastic-bag-ban-options/9874474

[davidc4430]

wont the sticky out stick bits knock stuff off the shelves when your passing the two ladies discusing world affairs in aisle 9?

[lyhargr_0]

No aisle 9 in Aldi lol but the handles would need to be able to be removed, so the bags could be washed

[chameleon54]

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@travlyn2012 wrote:

https://au.news.yahoo.com/not-good-look-customers-slam-woolworths-plastic-bag-ban-123623547.html

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The article notes that the re-usable shopping bags will need to be used from 20 - 100 times before they become more environmentally friendly than single use bags. We have had the bag ban in place in SA for several years now and I doubt that any of our bags would have been re-used 20 times, let alone 100. By the third or fourth re-use the handles on the 15 cent bags have stretched or pulled off, or the bags have become crumpled and soiled. The canvas type green bags perish, fade and wear over time and end up tearing once they have had a few uses.

Basically this is just another example of people and commercial corporates wanting to look and feel like they are doing something important, with little understanding or genuine care of the real impact they are having, which is often more damaging than the initial problem they are trying to address.

The same thing is happening with many products that we re-cycle. The damage to the environment of washing and collecting re-cyclable materials, transporting them to a recycling facility ( often internationally based, China being very active in the market ) and the energy used and pollution caused in the actual recycling process is often much more environmentally damaging than sending the same items to a local land fill site.

Personally I think it would be much better to have a basic sorting process for rubbish and then " landfill store " it in relatively  local, environmentally stable and secure "earth banks " to be mined and re-used at some point in the future when our natural resources have become more depleted and technological advances and economic imperatives make it more worthwhile and environmentally sound to recycle the rubbish.

Unfortunately this doesnt make the urban shopper or grocery giant feel all warm and fuzzy about how enviromentally responsible they are. Its all about image with little genuine understanding or care about the real substance of the issue. 

[bestbits1]

I have stopped impulse buying, now strictly what is on the shopping list, just in case it doesn't all fit into the bag I take with me.

Some decision makers justify their existence by imposing their stupidity on the rest of us.

[davidc4430]

what i find annoying is i thought all the stuff i put in my recycle bin was getting recycled here, creating jobs for australians.

but now i find we were just sending our carp to china, problem solved!

oh, china has woken up to the scam, now we must take care of our own carp, PANIC!

[springyzone]

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@davidc4430 wrote:

wont the sticky out stick bits knock stuff off the shelves when your passing the two ladies discusing world affairs in aisle 9?

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Did give me a laugh but the bags aren't in the trolley like that till the checkout. They are rolled up till everything has been unpacked.

I get many admiring glances & comments from fellow shoppers, asking where I got them. 

I suppose more & more of us will have to have these sorts of things now.

Personally, I am all for looking after the environment but I believe this whole business of cutting out the bags is a cover for shops saving money.

If we really want to cut out on waste, how about cutting out the pre cut vegies in bags, the biscuits that are in layers of wrap and so on. The actual supermarket bag was the tip of the iceberg. I was reading in the paper too that re-using the green bags has upped the rate of poisoning/death. They put it down to leakage eg from meat and the bags should not be washed, not if you want them to last.

[lyhargr_0]

Have always washed our re usable bags, never had a  problem    .....  No way I am going to put my food is a dirty bag

[travlyn2012]

https://au.news.yahoo.com/joke-customers-furious-woolworths-ridiculous-use-plastic-bag-ban-094708815...

More plastic products that may disappear in the next few years.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/everyday-items-banned-within-five-years-045054583.html

[davidc4430]

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@springyzone wrote:

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@davidc4430 wrote:

wont the sticky out stick bits knock stuff off the shelves when your passing the two ladies discusing world affairs in aisle 9?

---

Did give me a laugh but the bags aren't in the trolley like that till the checkout. They are rolled up till everything has been unpacked.

I get many admiring glances & comments from fellow shoppers, asking where I got them. 

I suppose more & more of us will have to have these sorts of things now.

Personally, I am all for looking after the environment but I believe this whole business of cutting out the bags is a cover for shops saving money.

If we really want to cut out on waste, how about cutting out the pre cut vegies in bags, the biscuits that are in layers of wrap and so on. The actual supermarket bag was the tip of the iceberg. I was reading in the paper too that re-using the green bags has upped the rate of poisoning/death. They put it down to leakage eg from meat and the bags should not be washed, not if you want them to last.

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ok, silly me, thought you put the stuff in bags as you went along. forgot about the checkout bit.

here in south oz we went to bring ya own bags a few years ago, woolies redid the checkouts to suit the new cloth bags so they can hang on a rotating frame. still dont bloomin work properly tho.

now i see they have new bags just arrived, with some sort of garantee if they wear out you can get free replacents.

[lyhargr_0]

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@travlyn2012 wrote:

https://au.news.yahoo.com/joke-customers-furious-woolworths-ridiculous-use-plastic-bag-ban-094708815...

More plastic products that may disappear in the next few years.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/everyday-items-banned-within-five-years-045054583.html

 Given they are packaged in PET plastic, I cant really see a  problem

Banning plastic bags wont solve the total problem re plastic packaging etc. but at least it's a start    .... Yes, it will save the supermarets a few bucks, it may also save a few marine lives as well   ......