So How's That Plastic Bag Ban Working Out for You?

Comments

I never see them, and I never buy them. Seems to be working out great. Any chance of a resolution in Seattle to stop second guessing legislative decisions based on anecdotal evidence?

biffp on February 5, 2013 at 2:12 PM

I have a closet full of plastic bags. You can have 'em.

care bear on February 5, 2013 at 2:12 PM

I'll take some off your hands. I moved apartments back in March and got rid of a whole bunch of them, thinking that I could always restock. Now I'm pretty much out.

Callie on February 5, 2013 at 2:19 PM

I still have a few years of plastic bags stored up, to use in my increasingly small garbage output.

Will in Seattle on February 5, 2013 at 2:27 PM

@4, your garbage output is immense.

gloomy gus on February 5, 2013 at 2:31 PM

Lam's Seafood Market insisted that I use a plastic bag for the two apples I bought. I told them I didn't want one, but they said it's their policy and I must take one. I figured I could use it for a secondary purpose anyway and accepted it, but on reflection I wish I would have fought it. What could they do, take my apples back?

Matt the Engineer on February 5, 2013 at 2:47 PM

@ 1, anecdotal evidence? Like that for Walmart's spreading of the Newtown-was-fake conspiracy theory?

Matt from Denver on February 5, 2013 at 2:50 PM

@6.. lam's.. yeah..they're worse than viet wah because they still want to put stuff in bags and then put the bags in other bags. even packaged goods, they want to double bag them too, but you don't have to take the bags. we don't and it's a major discussion every time. but they have these stickers that say 'PAID'. tell them to put the stickers ON the apples. they'll tell you 'blah blah blah' but then they'll do it.
don't back down.

reverend dr dj riz on February 5, 2013 at 2:55 PM

@5 Well played.

Hernandez on February 5, 2013 at 3:00 PM

viet wah on jackson hands em out too. the kind without the two holes in the bottom. good price on produce and meat too.

carsten coolage on February 5, 2013 at 3:12 PM

slow news day.

hmmmmm on February 5, 2013 at 3:26 PM

Working exactly as expected for me...I drive a bit more than I used to because I don't like dealing with paper bags when walking or busing.

ryanmm on February 5, 2013 at 3:32 PM

I hate the stupid ban that I liken to something they would do in North Korea. It unfairly hits the poor and those who do not have a car in the pocket book. It overrode a popular vote and to me is a radical right wing environmental hijacking of out system of government.

Won't be voting for those who supported this on the council.

eric1972sea on February 5, 2013 at 3:47 PM

It's turned me in to a bag hording little ol' lady at least 20 years to soon. Ever plastic bag I find I keep and reuse until it falls to pieces.

CodyBolt on February 5, 2013 at 3:54 PM

@13 The council is running unopposed. Welcome to North Korea?

Matt the Engineer on February 5, 2013 at 3:55 PM

@ 13, how are the carless affected by lthe bag ban? Or are the numbers in your screen name a clue that you're a shill?

Matt from Denver on February 5, 2013 at 3:57 PM

I hate to admit it, but I've been getting regular bag deliveries from my bag-hoarding mother in Bellevue. I need something to bag up cat shits, you guys.

More, I Say! on February 5, 2013 at 4:05 PM

@16 raises a good point.

I find that small grocery runs work fine without worrying about bags, or detritus like @5 lying on the sidewalk, but that sometimes one forgets enough bags when you have a lot of groceries. Not a problem at Costco, since they provide boxes which recycle, but a problem at places like Fred Meyer or when there is a sale.

North Korea City Council ftw.

Will in Seattle on February 5, 2013 at 4:09 PM

@17: Buy dog poop bags and use those.

tiktok on February 5, 2013 at 4:26 PM

@5 = comment of the decade.

Fnarf on February 5, 2013 at 4:26 PM

I dont buy milk anymore, it doesnt fit in paper bags very well and I cant carry two bags and a gallon of milk 6 blocks. If it doesnt fit in two paper bags, I just dont buy it anymore. I dont own a car, and carrying cloth bags with me at all times really isnt an option for me, in fact its fucking stupid to expect people who dont own cars to carry cloth bags with them at any given moment.

Also, baggers at grocery stores are now trying to pack everything into bags and you get idiots who lay down frozen meat patties onto a loaf of bread, crushing the bread.

Kinison on February 5, 2013 at 4:31 PM

I'm a retail manager. The week the bag ban went into effect, our corporate office (in Nashville) called the store and had us transfer our entire plastic bag horde to locations outside of city limits. They also sent us a grand total of 5 reusable bags to sell to customers.

No one seems particularly bothered by it. Customers are all used to it, and there's a lot fewer empty bags blowing around the parking lot.

However, one of our managers is a commuter who drives in from Monroe, and he's still freaking out about it. On truck day he hordes empty boxes to give to customers, which customers never want, and I usually end up sneaking them all out to the recycling bin after I've tripped over the mountain a dozen times. The once or twice a day a customer /asks/ for a bag, he goes into a tirade about how the City of Seattle is a bunch of nazis and the bag ban is stupid, while the customer is all like "no, it's fine, I can carry it".

Lack Thereof on February 5, 2013 at 4:36 PM

Ireland was always held up as an example of how the plastic bag ban "worked." They started out charging 15 (euro)cents for each bag, but people just paid it, so they kept jacking up the price until it hit 33 cents. Then they prohibited stores from handing out plastic bags. However, at pretty much any grocery store you can buy packages of plastic grocery bags!

I've seen some pretty disgusting reusable bags waiting in line at the grocery store. I just spend a nickel for a paper one, and toss it in the mixed paper recycle bin...

orino on February 5, 2013 at 4:42 PM

goldy, as a fellow southender can i just say 1. McPherson's really sucks in the last year and half or so. The produce has just reached new lows, the kids that work there are cold and they used to have someone selling tamales in the parking lot...er, no more. 2. bring your own bag there and Lam's. Both places allow it and yeah, they have a million but let others use them for dog shit, moving or whatever. All of them will not disappear but we are making progress.

snacktruck on February 5, 2013 at 5:08 PM

@ 21, all your problems are manufactured by yourself. If you're too addled to plan trips to the grocery store, you're simply never to be respected.

Matt from Denver on February 5, 2013 at 5:37 PM

@24 have you looked across 15th at the old espresso spot that's now a Mexican grocery? The cart's out front. And I still drive to MacPherson's from Ballard weekly, so it's not that bad. The toddler loves to visit, the bananas are always cheap ($.59/lb organic Chiquitas yesterday), and the staff is friendly. I'm not expecting them to blow me, I'm expecting cheap produce from a locally-owned business.

Jessica on February 5, 2013 at 6:24 PM

Milk fits in a paper bag. 21 is making up specious shit to make a false point.

McGee on February 5, 2013 at 6:24 PM

Shut down SLOG. @5 will never be topped.

DOUG. on February 5, 2013 at 7:30 PM

Have you bag toting geniuses heard of a crazy new invention called a backpack?

I have been taking mine to Lams for years.

Cascadian Bacon on February 5, 2013 at 8:28 PM

If you like plastic bags, why not just buy some? On Amazon you can get 1,000 bags for $25 ($0.025/bag): http://www.amazon.com/T-Shirt-Carry-Out-…

That's like a lifetime supply, isn't it?

dlauri on February 5, 2013 at 8:38 PM

@29 That's what I've been using forever. I suspect people still feel silly wearing a backpack around the city. It'll change if it has to.

floater on February 5, 2013 at 10:08 PM

North Koreans wish their problems were as lame as not having plastic bags for all those fucking groceries we fill our fat faces with.

Get a grip!

madcap on February 5, 2013 at 10:27 PM

@29 I had my messenger bag with me, which was where I was trying to put the apples. Again, I didn't put up nearly enough resistance to their bag pushing.

Matt the Engineer on February 5, 2013 at 11:54 PM

@33
You have to give them a stern "No Bag!", or just hand them yours.

On a darker note I am also wondering how the ban on plastic bags relates to suicide. Seems like it might reduce the suicide rate, at least by suffocation/asphyxiation.

A few weeks ago I pulled a bag off a guys head what was trying to suffocate himself in the bushes outside the ER. Well long story short PD showed up and we ended up admitting him. The question on everyone's mind was, "Where did he get a plastic bag in Seattle?"

Cascadian Bacon on February 6, 2013 at 12:07 AM

Banning plastic bags only made me switch to paper. Ya, that makes sense environmentally? This issue is pure idealism and little more. Well written article: http://goo.gl/khxv

on February 6, 2013 at 1:38 AM

#firstworldproblems

Cynickal on February 6, 2013 at 6:00 AM

You can get plastic bags from take out places, that's more than enough for me.

watchout5 on February 6, 2013 at 6:18 AM

@16, nope, that's called a logical assumption. I'm not surprised you are unfamiliar with the concept - being fixated with details that no one gives two shits about like whether the NHL players were locked out or on strike.

biffp on February 6, 2013 at 11:49 AM

Works fine for me because it's so funny. It's well documented that plastic bags are better for the environment, safer, and more sanitary than anything else, but Seattle isn't into science so they banned 'em. Now I have a bunch of cotton bags. I'll have to use each one of them 180 times before its contribution to global warming is the same as if I'd been using plastic.

Of course, they don't last 180 uses unless you don't wash them. Which some people don't. Just ask your friendly neighborhood checker about the gross cloth bags they're seeing. Of course, you could always pay a nickel per paper bag. Good luck in the rain, and try not to think about how each paper bag causes 15 times as much water pollution as a plastic bag.

Seattle's a great town. Always fun to watch these people who actually think they're all smart and scientific and all.

Unbrainwashed on February 8, 2013 at 3:13 PM

Yeah, #36, I agree that it'd be so much better if we had to worry about cholera.

Unbrainwashed on February 8, 2013 at 3:24 PM

So How's That Plastic Bag Ban Working Out for You?

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