Seattle to charge .20 for plastic/paper bags

[RaggedyAnn]

Originally Posted by AGDee

If I buy 20 of those reusable bags, where do I put them while I'm filling my cart with groceries?

I recommend buying only 3-4 to start, until you see how many you need. These bags are a lot sturdier, so you can fill them. I often found the baggers wasted a lot of space in the plastic throw away bags so they didn't break.

[Lil' Hannah]

Mystic Cat and I seem to have the same reusable bag routine (although when I'm running in for a few things, I just use the bag as my basket), so I don't have much more to add. However, I wanted to post a picture of the bags that I our local grocery store has...pardon the bass in the corner, the bags are mesh and very sturdy so one of the local fishing clubs uses them for their weigh-in bags and that was the only place I could find a picture.



Anyway I really like them, and I have 2 bags and that's usually enough for me, however I'm usually only shopping for myself.

They're selling these kind now too, but they're not as big and they look more prone to absorbing moisture to me, I haven't bothered with these ones.



If you do end up having to buy paper or plastic bags, instead of reusing them for trashcan liners you could always just bring them back to the store for your next grocery trip and reuse them that way.

[scbelle]

I also use the reusable bags at the commissary and love them. I leave them in my trunk, along with my market bag (the large straw tote I use at the farmer's market). They are easy to carry, easily filled, and store well. I have 7 bags, but I think there's only been one or two trips where I've used all of them. I have washed them (handwash cycle w/ cold water) and they came out fine.

As for the idea of charging for the plastic bags, that idea is not completely foreign to me. They do it everywhere here in Germany. You HAVE to bring your own bags to the Aldi or get charged 5 cents of a euro for every plastic bag you use. But I can see how it's kind of dumb to charge, especially since a lot of people reuse/recycle them. I don't buy trashbags... I think it's dumb to literally put my money in the trash... and that's what I'd be doing if I lived in Seattle if I were forced to buy plastic bags. And .20 seems a little ludacrous.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by AGDee

I figure I usually have about 20 grocery bags per shopping trip. If I buy 20 of those reusable bags, where do I put them while I'm filling my cart with groceries?

Originally Posted by RaggedyAnn

I recommend buying only 3-4 to start, until you see how many you need. These bags are a lot sturdier, so you can fill them. I often found the baggers wasted a lot of space in the plastic throw away bags so they didn't break.

Exactly. It always drove me crazy that the baggers would only put three or four things in a plastic bag. Our reusable bags have a piece of cardboard that goes in the bottom to provide structure -- makes it much easier to put more things in it.

My guess, AGDee, is that if you have about 20 plastic bags per grocery trip, you'd use about 5-8 of the reusable bags, tops.

FWIW, this is the bag we got from our grocery store:



You can order them from the manufacturer at 20 bags for $26, but the grocery store sells them for $0.99 each. They also sell thermal reusable bags for (I think) $2.99. I like these bags because they don't have a store logo on them.

[SoCalGirl]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Exactly. It always drove me crazy that the baggers would only put three or four things in a plastic bag. Our reusable bags have a piece of cardboard that goes in the bottom to provide structure -- makes it much easier to put more things in it.

My guess, AGDee, is that if you have about 20 plastic bags per grocery trip, you'd use about 5-8 of the reusable bags, tops.

FWIW, this is the bag we got from our grocery store:



You can order them from the manufacturer at 20 bags for $26, but the grocery store sells them for $0.99 each. They also sell thermal reusable bags for (I think) $2.99. I like these bags because they don't have a store logo on them.

Those are the bags we get at the commissary for $.79. I use them as tote bags now.