You can still get a plastic bag at Fred Meyer -- for a dime
Last evening we had our first checkout from a Portland Fred Meyer store at which we weren't offered plastic bags for our groceries. (Actually, we had brought our own bags, and so we didn't need the brown paper bags they were using, either.) But just before we got to the checkout counter, we noticed a new rack on which hung plastic shopping bags that customers could purchase for 10 cents each. They were sturdier than the free plastic bags that used to come routinely with the groceries, and they had handles made of the same plastic as the bag itself, which made the suggestion of reusing them at least somewhat realistic. But make no mistake -- they were plastic bags.
A sign at the front door was soliciting online comments from customers on the new bag policy. It certainly will be interesting to see how the whole thing comes out.
| Posted at 5:45 AM | Permalink |
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Comments (11)
I hope the bags are not so thick users lose the arthritis soothing benefit gained from handling warm dog droppings.
Posted by Abe | August 10, 2010 5:58 AM
I'm with Abe on this one
Posted by David E Gilmore | August 10, 2010 6:40 AM
Interesting. Very, very interesting.
Posted by Justin | August 10, 2010 7:18 AM
Yep, comment to FM what you think of their test program and guess what then FM has your email address, nice I get enough spam thank you very much.
Oh I shopped there yesterday and commented on the no plastic bag thingy, so the checker stated "we can double bag it for you." Great green program as another tree hits the ground.
Believe me it's all about money.
Posted by phil | August 10, 2010 7:23 AM
Phil, trees are sustainable. The petroleum used to make plastic bags is not.
Posted by leinad | August 10, 2010 10:26 AM
I still like the convenience of the "free" plastic bags at check out. The paper bags with handles provided by Freddies routinely break at the handles. Also, paper bags don't do as well when walking home from the store in the rain.
Boy, there were a lot of misstatements in Adams' press release talking up the merits of banning plastic bags. For one, plastic bags are mostly made from components of natural gas and not oil. Natural gas is supplied 90 percent by domestic production and 10 percent from our Canadian neighbors. On top of this the article talks of plastic trash and plastic bags in the Ocean as though they were one in the same, when actually only a small fraction of this Ocean trash is plastic bags. I am also hearing recycled plastic bags are mostly made in China and imported whereas "single use" plastic bags are made here in the U.S. (again mostly from domestic natural gas).
It seems apparent the Mayor takes his words verbatim from the green commies (paid activist groups), and his planning department doesn't even bother to corrobate the statements. Or, maybe the Mayor is lying to us again. The mayor doesn't want even one plastic bag taking away from the flower pots, gold rings and monuments he and his cityhall brethren erect at the gates of downtown at taxpayer expense. Or, maybe the Mayor talks to the sewer operations folks a lot about the inconvenience of plastic bags showing up in the sewer system. I can understand the latter if frequent occurence, but why not just say this rather than stretch the truths by very large margins.
Posted by Bob Clark | August 10, 2010 10:45 AM
leinad - actually, paper bags, while made from renewable resources and more readily recycled, are far more toxic to manufacture and transport. Lots of water and chemicals to break trees down into pulp and then paper, and the weight is considerably greater than plastic bags.
Bob Clark has done a nice job refuting the false argument about "ending our dependence on foreign oil" in regards to plastic bags.
Go by Nanny State!
Posted by umpire | August 10, 2010 10:52 AM
Phil, there is a reason you create seperate email accounts for things that could lead to spam.
Posted by JS | August 10, 2010 11:18 AM
You know what's really good for carrying groceries home in the rain? A backpack.
Posted by Dan | August 10, 2010 11:52 AM
leinad - His Highness the Tramwhore of the the City of Thorns could have just as easily made an edict that the city recyclers would have to begin accepting plastic bags for curbside recycling (instead of citizens having to find places to take them). However, his chickenness does not have it in him to take on the the monopoly of residential trash (collection) in PDX.
Posted by LucsAdvo | August 10, 2010 12:50 PM
leinad,
Here is something for you to digest:
http://www.savetheplasticbag.com/ReadContent486.aspx
Posted by butch | August 10, 2010 7:23 PM