I hate plastic, and it's probably one of the worst double edge swords human kind has ever come up with. I would much rather have disposable syringes for injections, but most things made of plastic are meant to be tossed after their very short life time, and they last forever in the environment. Plastic is very recyclable, but it is cheaper, and cleaner to make it fresh, and mandating that people sort and return their plastic, but not requiring any manufacturer to actually recycle it does nothing for the environment.

That said, these "single use" bag bans are short sighted. Good idea in the big picture, but bad in the microcosm. I reused the plastic store bags all the time. They are great for lining small waste baskets, picking up dog poop, storing lots of stuff, and a multitude of other uses. With the ban my state implemented people now had to go purchase dog poop bags, small plastic waste bags, and many of the other things that the so called single use bags were used for so I don't know that the plastic stream was reduced by this law. Also, most of the re-usable bags are made of plastic, and they will all were out and be disposed of. I bought a package of small liner bags and they were very expensive, especially compared to the free ones that my groceries came in. My solution, I went to BJ's and bought a box of 1,000 plastic T-shirt bags, the so called single use grocery bags, for less than the cost of the small roll of plastic bags. But now they are single use as they are used to wrap my recyclables and trash - a requirement of my trash collector and town. All waste must be in plastic bags.

We need a solution to the problem of plastic, but I don't believe this is it. I have no data to back this up, but I, personally, never bought small plastic bags before this ban.

Lets talk about nips, those tiny liquor bottles that have replaced beer cans along the road side.

Our group makes outdoor mats out of cut up plastic bags. It takes literally hundreds of plastic bags to make one decent sized door mat, so that at least is helping a little bit. We also cut up plastic bags and use them to stuff knitted and crocheted toys. I always reuse plastic bags for trash and then throw the trash out in the dumpsters in bags rather than just loose garbage.

I realize that doesn't take care of all the millions of bags that are just blowing around, but it helps.

Our neighborhood is really bad about plastic bags. Seems like people just take their stuff out of the bags and throw them to the wind (I can't prove they do this, but from the number I pick up in my yard, on the fence, in the bushes, not too many people are careful how they dispose of them.

The solution here is that shops are not allowed to give away plastic bags. They must charge a minimum price for them. Seems to work. Plastic bag use by supermarkets has reduced 97% since charging was introduced in 2015.

We need to reduce plastic use, and drastically. I applaud them for it.

This isn't as much of a revenue scheme but more of what Andrew pointed out. We have three counties here in VA, that I know of, that have already passed legislation to charge for every single use bag you take when you go to any store in that county. By banning the bags in certain states, I would bet that Walmart has seen that the majority of areas are already working on, or have passed, legislation banning them.

I'm like Dave. If the bags aren't torn apart, I reuse as many as I can. Trash bag liners, car trash bags, clean-up bags, etc. We use them when our Scout Troop has a food sale as well. That's what we bag the food people buy in. It almost seems that they are pushing some people into exchanging one plastic bag for another but I also wonder if the number of people who reuse these shopping bags is significantly greater than the number who just toss them.

I have grocery bags that I bought fifteen years ago that I still use: 100lb capacity, good handles, and I pack them full. It's the reason I prefer self-checkout: I can get a week of groceries into two good bags if I pack them myself, none of this twenty flimsy tiny pieces of plastic tissue.

I also have used my own bags for way more years than I can count before the ban.

One day my wife was shopping, might have even been before we were married, and the bagger held up a plastic and paper bag and asked "Kill a tree or choke a whale?"

I sure hope this is working, but I still see a lot of bags on the side of the road. Then again, Massachusetts is only 5-8 miles to the north and they have no such ban so when I shop there I'm give a free single use bag that I use over and over again. And, as I said before, if I have to buy plastic bags because I'm not getting the ones I use at the store for free, is there really any savings in plastic?

A motorcycling friend of mine several years ago was getting off an interstate off ramp when a plastic shopping bag blew onto the face shield of his helmet. He was banked in a turn and with his gloves on could not get a grip on the bag. He very fortunately did not fall down or go off the road, but he was damn lucky.

If you are interested do the math on 6
Bags at .42 each 500 times(500 customers seems doable) per day.
363days closed for Christmas and New Years. You get nearly a 1/2 million dollar for just one store now multiply that by at least 500 stores and I’m just making a guess at the amount of stores. You will see Wal*Marts revenue.

One more question. How will Walmart know how many bags used by a shopper at the self check out unless there’s some kind of camera system watching the self checkout counter? Check out clerks will count their bags as they fill them for the customer so that’s not a issue as to the amount to charge.

Thoes are rhetorical questions by the way. 

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Originally posted by 5B-Ranch

If you are interested do the math on 6
Bags at .42 each 500 times(500 customers seems doable) per day.
363days closed for Christmas and New Years. You get nearly a 1/2 million dollar for just one store now multiply that by at least 500 stores and I’m just making a guess at the amount of stores. You will see Wal*Marts revenue.

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Except the goal is to make these disposable bags so expensive that no one buys them.

In CT there is a .05 tax on bags if you have to take a store paper bag, plastic no longer allowed. I cannot believe any of that actually goes to the state, no way to monitor it.

Old hat here in CA.

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Originally posted by kww

I have grocery bags that I bought fifteen years ago that I still use: 100lb capacity, good handles, and I pack them full. It's the reason I prefer self-checkout: I can get a week of groceries into two good bags if I pack them myself, none of this twenty flimsy tiny pieces of plastic tissue.

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That's fine for you healthy, strong types.  How about us senior citizens who don't have the upper body strength to lift much more than 20#?  We HAVE to bag items according to our ability to lift and carry.   Plastic bags DO have a place as long as they aren't just discarded on the streets.

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Originally posted by Texasbanjo

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Originally posted by kww

I have grocery bags that I bought fifteen years ago that I still use: 100lb capacity, good handles, and I pack them full. It's the reason I prefer self-checkout: I can get a week of groceries into two good bags if I pack them myself, none of this twenty flimsy tiny pieces of plastic tissue.

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That's fine for you healthy, strong types.  How about us senior citizens who don't have the upper body strength to lift much more than 20#?  We HAVE to bag items according to our ability to lift and carry.   Plastic bags DO have a place as long as they aren't just discarded on the streets.

 

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Nothing forces anyone to use the superlarges that I do.

If I ever shopped at Walmart again, Id need a plastic bag to suffocate myself.

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Originally posted by NotABanjoYoda

If I ever shopped at Walmart again, Id need a plastic bag to suffocate myself.

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Just carry .42 cents in your pocket. They will charge you for that bag. 

quote:

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Originally posted by 5B-Ranch

If you are interested do the math on 6
Bags at .42 each 500 times(500 customers seems doable) per day.
363days closed for Christmas and New Years. You get nearly a 1/2 million dollar for just one store now multiply that by at least 500 stores and I’m just making a guess at the amount of stores. You will see Wal*Marts revenue.

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Or you could assume, as happens here, that people initially buy a few bags and reuse them for years. I'm no Walmart fan, but the Waltons are not funding a sybaritic lifestyle by selling plastic bags.

Supermarkets here have a 'bag for life' scheme. If you buy a heavier than basic bag, for about the 42c that Walmart are charging, then they'll exchange it free for a new one if it splits. My grocery delivery service charges the legal 10p minimum, but gives you 5p for any you return. As I said earlier this has reduced plastic bag use by 97%. So you probably want to reduce your $250,000,000 estimate by that much or more.

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Originally posted by DC5

Lets talk about nips, those tiny liquor bottles that have replaced beer cans along the road side.

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My kids and I periodically pick up trash on our road.  It's amazing all the little plastic Fireball Whiskey bottles we pick up.  Burns me up.

quote:

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Originally posted by 5B-Ranch

If you are interested do the math on 6
Bags at .42 each 500 times(500 customers seems doable) per day.
363days closed for Christmas and New Years. You get nearly a 1/2 million dollar for just one store now multiply that by at least 500 stores and I’m just making a guess at the amount of stores. You will see Wal*Marts revenue.

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Not sure where get it's "Wal Mart" scheme, as it's link is referring to state law.

Probably not great profit from it. First the .42 is not profit. Don't know what profit margin is but probably not much. 

But also might be missing, as states the .42 charge is for reusable bags... for delivery.

Will I be charged for the reusable bags that my order is delivered in?

Starting March 28, 2023, there will be a fee of $0.42 per bag for delivery.

For delivery, you can opt out of reusable bags when finalizing your purchase. Please leave totes or reusable bags at your doorstep if you opt out of buying more reusable bags.

For in store 

Please bring your own reusable bags or buy them at checkout. 

Might be tough concept to get that you don't have to throw out bags, can reuse them. More durable, don't easily rip out compared to the plastic bag, and last for a long time.  I have a maybe dozen, all lasted over 5 years.

I’m for anything that will reduce the amount of plastic waste in our environment. This looks to me like a last ditch effort to find someway of profiting off a product that’s going away and I for one will not miss plasticus bagi
Which has morphed into it’s own species.

Just FYI, one of our grocery stores here in my area has started selling reusable sturdy cardboard boxes for carrying groceries home without the need for plastic bags. They are reusable and easily recyclable. While I have often thought of taking a used Amazon box to the store with me, I cannot afford to put much in one these days. My sister bought a collapsible cart she takes with her now, so it is easier to transport her groceries home and into the house, no bags necessary. I have a portable rolling plastic clothes hamper and I am considering doing the same.

I will admit though, it really isn't about saving the environment from the plastic bags, for me it's more about not carrying 30 grocery bags with one item each. And being able to roll it into the house in one load. Well it is about the environment too.

Anyone from southern New England will remember Spags, the original bargain store. Spags had great prices on just about everything, they gave free tomato plants every spring by the thousands, and they made great contributions to the community. Spags was known for two things, no bags, and no credit cards, cash only. The big club stores, BJ's, Sam's, etc. do not give out bags. My local BJ's is kind of like Spags was, they have empty boxes you can pick up to put your purchases in. In terms of reuse, reduce, recycle, Spags was years ahead of the game. We've gotten used to having free bags given out, but that was not the norm not that long ago.

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Originally posted by Buddur

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Originally posted by DC5

Lets talk about nips, those tiny liquor bottles that have replaced beer cans along the road side.

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My kids and I periodically pick up trash on our road.  It's amazing all the little plastic Fireball Whiskey bottles we pick up.  Burns me up.

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And around here there's no deposit on them.  There talking a statewide ban in CT.  I'd rather see a $10 deposit, then your kids could pay for college picking them up.

One of the best things I ever did was buy a grocery-store quality plastic shopping basket. I rarely go into a store anymore but when I do, I use it to collect my items, unload it at the checkout, and then load it back up again to go to the car. Nice thing is--it's always clean. And if I pickup an order at Walmart, I just put it in my trunk and load into it; no bags needed.