Tags
bag ban, Dog, dog sitting, dogs, dogsitting, mother earth, motherearth, paper bag, plastic bag, poop, Ralphs, Vons
I’m about to say something that won’t go over well with most people and certainly most people I know and call my friends … ready for it … hold on to your hats … I truly hate the plastic bag ban. It just really chaps my hide. I know plastic bags are bad for the environment. I’ve biked the Los Angeles River and seen first hand the discarded ripped bags hanging from the branches of the river shrubs like discarded and shamed confederate flags. I get it. Mother Earth and I are tight … I understand that the enormous amount of plastic bag waste is a huge issue that needs to be dealt with. I just don’t have to like it.
Adorable poop makers.
I’ve been bringing my own bags to the grocery store for years. I don’t have an issue with that at all. I have a dozen or so reusable bags stuffed in the back of my car and when I head to Vons (no longer Ralphs as we know they suck) I whip them out and smugly walk into the store knowing I’m as green as it gets. Then what exactly are my issues with this increasingly popular law? Let me explain:
* Sometimes I’m running in for just a few things and I forget my bag. It happens. Not often, but it happens. Then I have to decide if I want to precariously carry everything I purchased out to the car to dump in one of my bags or pay 10 cents to get everything thrown in a brown bag.
* When I traveled for work I NEVER brought reusable shopping bags with me. Come on … on top of everything else you want me to remember that. Screw that. I was already stressed I didn’t need to know if I wanted to purchase groceries I had to bring my own carrying device too. I remember an incident at a Trader Joe’s in San Jose that almost had me on my knees. My bad day ended in me having to carry my groceries (heavy on the wine bottles) back to my car as I tried to remember where I put my bottle of Xanax.
* I ALWAYS forget if it isn’t a grocery store. I don’t really know what the law is and it is probably different for each city, county, state, etc. For the area I tend to shop in if you have x many stores (I forget how many) you are a “chain” and therefore the bag ban applies to you. This includes Petco, World Market, Michaels, Target, and many others. Do you know how many times I’ve gotten to the front door of Michaels only to have to turn around and walk back down (I park downstairs at that store) and grab bags before coming back up. So aggravating.
* I’m amazed how little now fits into a reusable bag. Those bag stuffers (whatever their actual title is … I shouldn’t make fun of them I will probably have to get a job doing that soon) use to pack EVERYTHING into one or two of my canvas bags. Now it’s one or two items per bag. Recently on a trip to Vons the bag stuffer person was really terrible at her job and every two seconds asked if I wanted to buy more bags. “No! Everything will fit.” She “tried” again and gave me a “what do you want me to do?” shrug. I ended up having to bag everything myself in my own bags which I think suited her just fine!
Now looking at that list I realize how horrible I sound. I don’t want the plastic bag ban because it is an annoyance to me. Plain and simple. Selfish me doesn’t want to be put out. True. But here is the killer reason …
More adorable poop makers.
* What do I do with all the poo in my back yard? As you can imagine with all the little four-legged poo makers running around my backyard it is full up with the stuff. Every other day, or so, I grab two plastic bags and head to the back yard ready for war. One bag is used to cover my hand while I scoop and the second is used to hold the pounds of poo. It’s a good system but plastic bags are a huge component of the system. Right now you are thinking of a number of solutions for me, buy my own bags, buy a pooper scooper thing, use doggie bags …. stop. Just stop. I don’t want any of those solutions. I want my free plastic bags that I can fit a ton of crap in (literally) and the earth can just screw off.
Can’t we compromise in some way. Why do I have to pay for paper bags? Why can’t you just give me those? Or give me those unless I bring my own then give me 5 cents off per bag. Something like that. No? Really? You sure you wanna piss off the gal with unlimited amount of ingredients for flaming poop bags?
I didn’t think so.
Me Myself & Riggins 
I totally see eye-to-eye with you!!
But in my case it’s cleaning the cat box – so I would opt for “paper please” – cause the cat sand would fall thru the holes in the plastic bags. Now I’m liking the 10 cent “recyclable” bags because they are made well but f me to shell out the10 cents when I just rocked paying w coupons and club card and saved $40 something dollars (normally $20 but still so proud of that one day). And fml last week when I was driving John’s car which doesn’t have a stash of reusable bags and I decided that the wine sale had my name on it!
Is that a California thing? Because I have heard of no such ban here in Kansas and I got a ton of them shopping today. When I go grocery shopping I try to remember to bring the reusables. if I don’t I get plastic or I will ask for paper if I am running low (I use them for recyclables). I either take the plastics to Walmart to recycle(they have huge bins for them!!) or use them in wastebaskets.
I was the same way, seeing as the bandit San Jose before you. Now that I’m in Portland, there’s a ban I think, but they give you paper bags for free. I have my reusables, but I also have one nylon bag that is pretty big, that folds up to the size of a wallet, that i hide in the bottom of my purse.
Being on portland, they pick up garbage only once every two weeks and recycling/ composting every week. So, I’ve been trying to keep my plastic consumption down just so we don’t have to spring for the larger garbage can. I don’t care about environment, it’s just a challenge I feel the need to meet. And you know what? If it weren’t for the damn plastic wrappers on everything, that portland doesn’t recycle,a swell as the plastic produce bags, I could do it! I suggest you use those pesky produce bags for poop.
For dog poop, tho we haven’t dug the hole yet, we got a doggie Dooley. It’s a poop composter. You dig a hole, add water and a chemical that breaks down the poop. And for our cats we got a litter genie. It’s pretty brilliant. It’s like a diaper genie but for cat poop. Then I just (make the kid) haul a large plastic bag from the genie to the garbage every week or so.
I swear, I was just as pissed as you. But on the other hand, I have a large amount of plastic shopping bags since portland seems to be the only one who has banned, and in shop in other towns. I am happy to ship you my excess bags 🙂