You say this, but when there aren’t any options, you either (in my state) pay ten cents per paper bag, or you get in the habit of bringing your own. I was bad at remembering at first too, but you get used to it. Most non-grocery places just use paper bags. The grocery is the only place you really should bring your own.
Some folks I’ve seen even now just keep a laundry type basket in their car, straight from cart to basket and into the house.
It’s not abnormal to see people packing their groceries at their trunk at Walmart.
That’s how I got dozens of reusable plastic bags at 10¢ each. Eventually I started remembering to bring them into the store. Now it’s a good habit, so I’m ready for cloth bags …… no hurry, might as well reuse these a bunch more
Another thing is maybe I’m in the minority or something, but if you have an attached garage I don’t understand why you need bags at the store in the first place. You drop the shit in the cart, scan it, pay, put it back in the cart and then put it from the cart into your car trunk. Then you can bag it or box it up at home to carry it from the trunk.
Not sure why that’s necessary for the process. Sometimes I do what you said with the things I buy, but I’m a standard poor living in an apartment. I gotta park my car outdoors, like a filthy animal, but I still do it.
Though I do find it easier to bag while putting things into the car, rather than when taking it out. I’ve already got to lug everything in and put it all away, so it’s nice to have one fewer chore to do when I get home.
Leave more bags then you’ll possibly need in there or leave a book bag in your car. Eventually you won’t be able to go back. If you have one do most of your shopping at an Aldi or Lidi. Plastic grocery bags take up more space than you realize until you go without.
the reusable bags New Jersey shoppers have been forced to use since the bag ban took effect in May of 2022 are rarely reused, only two to three times on average. With many people in New Jersey now using reusable bags as single use bags, the state’s plastic and paper bag prohibition, though passed with the best of intentions, may be doing more harm than good in practice.
Reusable bags are manufactured with 15 to 20 times the amount of plastic used in the now prohibited single-use plastic bag, notes the Freedonia report. The reusable bags that New Jersey residents now pay for at checkout or when their groceries are delivered, according to researchers, need to be used anywhere from 11-59 times in order to have a net benefit for the environment.
Though I would like to note that New Jersey made the stupid decision to not only ban plastic bags, but to ban paper bags too. It’s a move I can’t understand, except to assume that there’s some corrupt lobbying behind such a stupid decision. If the point is to be environmentally friendly, it makes much more sense to use a renewable source like paper.
The study you reference was created by a market research firm who didn’t share their data and paid for by plastic lobbyists. They measured projected use only into the first year of implementation when people were understandably buying reusable bags to comply. They took that surge in buying reusable bags as indication of long term demand and then assumed 90% of bags don’t get reused, which contradicts other research done by real researchers.
I mean, feasible in an objective sense? Yes. I don’t want to though, lol. I really like the convenience of bags at the till.
Very much a first world problem though, I’m aware.
Just buy paper then.
You say this, but when there aren’t any options, you either (in my state) pay ten cents per paper bag, or you get in the habit of bringing your own. I was bad at remembering at first too, but you get used to it. Most non-grocery places just use paper bags. The grocery is the only place you really should bring your own.
Some folks I’ve seen even now just keep a laundry type basket in their car, straight from cart to basket and into the house. It’s not abnormal to see people packing their groceries at their trunk at Walmart.
If I could remember to put reusable bags in my car, I would. I’d bring them into the store if I remembered too…
I have a bunch in my car. Now I have to remember to take them into the store.
That’s how I got dozens of reusable plastic bags at 10¢ each. Eventually I started remembering to bring them into the store. Now it’s a good habit, so I’m ready for cloth bags …… no hurry, might as well reuse these a bunch more
Throw a bunch in the car and leave them in there.
Another thing is maybe I’m in the minority or something, but if you have an attached garage I don’t understand why you need bags at the store in the first place. You drop the shit in the cart, scan it, pay, put it back in the cart and then put it from the cart into your car trunk. Then you can bag it or box it up at home to carry it from the trunk.
Not sure why that’s necessary for the process. Sometimes I do what you said with the things I buy, but I’m a standard poor living in an apartment. I gotta park my car outdoors, like a filthy animal, but I still do it.
Though I do find it easier to bag while putting things into the car, rather than when taking it out. I’ve already got to lug everything in and put it all away, so it’s nice to have one fewer chore to do when I get home.
Leave more bags then you’ll possibly need in there or leave a book bag in your car. Eventually you won’t be able to go back. If you have one do most of your shopping at an Aldi or Lidi. Plastic grocery bags take up more space than you realize until you go without.
Sadly, having more reusable bags than you need can result in producing even more single-use plastic. From the article New Jersey Bag Ban Followed By Increased Use Of Plastic:
Though I would like to note that New Jersey made the stupid decision to not only ban plastic bags, but to ban paper bags too. It’s a move I can’t understand, except to assume that there’s some corrupt lobbying behind such a stupid decision. If the point is to be environmentally friendly, it makes much more sense to use a renewable source like paper.
The study you reference was created by a market research firm who didn’t share their data and paid for by plastic lobbyists. They measured projected use only into the first year of implementation when people were understandably buying reusable bags to comply. They took that surge in buying reusable bags as indication of long term demand and then assumed 90% of bags don’t get reused, which contradicts other research done by real researchers.
https://whyy.org/articles/new-jersey-plastic-bag-ban-study-misinformation/