Bidding Adieu to Plastic Bags
Woman in the Middle | November 14, 2016A while back, the citizens of California passed a law though the voting process to get rid of free plastic bags at stores. Stores that offered bags would have to charge 10 cents for them. The plastic bag manufacturers weren’t happy about this and managed to get the law placed on the back burner while they tried to figure out how to postpone it or make it go away. Then, last Tuesday, we once again had the plastic bag law before us. Once again the voters confirmed they wanted to do away with free and ubiquitous plastic bags. Because this vote was confirming a law that was already in existence, there was no period of a month of two before it went into affect. Literally, the very next day, all of those free plastic bags were gone and you had to pay 10 cents to get one. This caught a lot of people by surprise.
I have a love/hate relationship with plastic bags. They seem to breed in my cupboard and I have so many of them it is crazy. A couple of years ago I made ti my New Year’s resolution to use reusable bags more and I have. But, even with dong that, my household seemed to overflow with bags. However, that being said, those plastic bags were and are very important to me. With three cats and daily litter box cleaning, I reuse plastic bags every single day. What was once a nuisance is now a resource to be hoarding and coveted.
Meanwhile, it is a whole new world at the grocery store. People are coping in different ways. Some, like me, are just trying to remember to bring our reusable bags with us. Others are keeping boxes in their trunk and they do not have any of their groceries bagged at the store. They just put it all back in the cart and then put the groceries in the boxes in their trunk. Others are buying the 10 cent bags and plan to reuse them multiple times.
Almost 20 years ago when we were visiting friends in England, they were already charging for bags, so California is behind the times in that sense. I am sure it will soon seem very normal to us all. Meanwhile, I am throwing those reusable bags back into my car right away so I will have them the next time I go to the store. And the plastic bags I do have are being filled to the brim before they are thrown out.
We don’t have laws about them here in my state and I use them. I haven’t bought garbage/trash bags in 20 years. Since we are only two they are the perfect size for a day of non-recyclable trash. I would definitely miss them. However, I understand that I am unusual and many people don’t reuse or don’t have a use for them. Our grocery stores have a bin where you can take them back for recycling. It is a different world!
I heard that some people are trying to actually BAN single use plastic bags!