The Bitter Truth is as I watch a parade on angry folks coming out of my local grocery store, clutching all their groceries in their arms without a bag I realize that L.A.'s ban on plastic bags in grocery stores is s great big scam. At it's heart, it seems like a good idea. Eliminate plastic bags. Eliminate waste that sits in in landfills forever. Only problem is it only in grocery stores. You still can get as many plastic bags as you wants at other retailers, including Target and Walmart. Oddly enough most Target and Walmart locations here feature full grocery stores.
While grocery stores no longer have plastic bags, they do have paper bags--For sale. That's right want to carry your groceries out in something other than you arms? Buy brown paper bags. Now you may say, "You cheap bastard. It's just 10 cents." True. But all those dimes add up. Plus it takes about 5 bags to get my groceries home. Now stores like Trader Joes and Whole Food didn't have plastic bags before January 2014. They had the same brown paper bags they have now. Only difference is before the ban on plastic bags, the brown paper ones at TJ's and Whole Foods were free. Now they charge you 10 cents per bag!
The other option is to use recyclable bags. If you remember to bring them. The only issue I have with them is having to keep them clean. Who has time to wash out all those durable plastic bags? I fear that our landfills will soon be full of recyclable bags--defeating the purpose of the original ban. The ban is turning us into a army of bag ladies and men. Or bag-less ladies and men unwilling to form out cash for paper bags. If you want people to care about a cause (like saving the world environment) you have to make it easy and not annoying! And that's The Bitter Truth!
While grocery stores no longer have plastic bags, they do have paper bags--For sale. That's right want to carry your groceries out in something other than you arms? Buy brown paper bags. Now you may say, "You cheap bastard. It's just 10 cents." True. But all those dimes add up. Plus it takes about 5 bags to get my groceries home. Now stores like Trader Joes and Whole Food didn't have plastic bags before January 2014. They had the same brown paper bags they have now. Only difference is before the ban on plastic bags, the brown paper ones at TJ's and Whole Foods were free. Now they charge you 10 cents per bag!
The other option is to use recyclable bags. If you remember to bring them. The only issue I have with them is having to keep them clean. Who has time to wash out all those durable plastic bags? I fear that our landfills will soon be full of recyclable bags--defeating the purpose of the original ban. The ban is turning us into a army of bag ladies and men. Or bag-less ladies and men unwilling to form out cash for paper bags. If you want people to care about a cause (like saving the world environment) you have to make it easy and not annoying! And that's The Bitter Truth!
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