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Well, well, well. What do we have here? Plastic bags. At the Masonic Lucky's supermarket. Destroying the environment. Making Ross Mirkarimi vomit.
Actually, these bags, which have appeared at supermarkets since Halloween, are "reusable bags," ones made from recycled materials. They're all a part of the "Got Your Bags?" campaign.
"We encourage our customers to recycle their single-use plastic bags in our stores and to utilize our reusable bags every time they shop. Our durable reusable bags close the loop: they are manufactured from recycled material that is also easily recycled when the bags are worn out," said Alicia Rockwell, Director of Public Relations with Save Mart Supermarkets, who also use the new black bags. "Our company works hard to educate our customers to Reduce-Reuse-Recycle and the 'Got Your Bags?' campaign is a great extra push to reinforce and remind us all."
Or, you know, you could just use a canvas bag. Or a hemp bag. Or a duffle bag.
Anyway, while the bags all say they are "reusable," which we supposed is true, they're no more reusable than any other plastic bag.
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There's an interesting regulation about the plastic bag law, if it is at least a certain thickness, it can be given away at grocery stores. Walgreens first used it before switching to paper, and you can feel how thick they are.
Yes, I remember that, too. The initial protest from the supermarkets was that the thicker bags were cost prohibitive. Looks like Lucky's giving them a try.
I do like Lucky's $1 plastic bags, you get 25 cents credit every time, and it's basically free after 4 trips.
... free AND FUNKY after 4 trips.
Dog-walkers of San Francisco are strongly approving of this.
I have a couple of beefs with Lucky's new bag policy (and yes, I normally use a cloth bag--and go to TJs instead--unless I'm making a last-minute stop for some basics).
1) Their paper bags no longer have handles. It's the dumbest idea, especially for commuters/non-drivers.
2) These "reusable, recyclable" bags can't be recycled in your blue bin. You have to return them to Lucky.
3) The resusable bags are smaller than the paper bags w/handles. Plus, they don't have a flat bottom, making it really hard to carry more than 4-5 items in one. Everything just bulks up.
The paper bags lost their handles about a month ago. The clerk said that the warehouse ran out. It could be related to the new plastic bags.
The red and white plastic bags they had two years ago def. were not up to the rigors of re-use. Oh well
This is a great example of what happens when idiots like Mirkarimi try to legislate business.
That guy is such a tool.
They are a little bit more reusable than standard plastic bags because they are sturdier, but, yeah.
missiondweller -- you ought to learn to differentiate between somebody having some bad ideas and their being an idiot. I disagree with a lot of what Mirkarimi does, but he is most certainly no idiot. Be nice!
Banning is just a bad idea generally. What the City really should do is TAX plastic bags. Let's say we slap a $0.50 per bag tax. That'd get people to switch to canvas bags pretty quick.
I carry my declawed cat in a plastic bag.
Hilarious!!!
If i remember right, part of the problem with the thinner plastic bags is that they are so light in relation to their volume that theyre much more likely to blow away when sitting in dumpsters, open trash cans, left in a shopping cart, or just carelessly tossed away.
That being said, thicker, quasi-disposable/reusable plastic bags dont really seem like the answer either. Im all for "consumer choice" - but really, paper bags with handles generally work pretty well - i havent missed plastic bags at the Safeway on Church since handle paper bags were introduced. Why Lucky has decided to scrap those, i have no idea.
And dog owners? Im sorry guys, youre gonna have to take one for the team here. I know it sucks, but the whole being able to use plastic bags from retailers thing was really just a pleasant accident anyway. Youll adapt, i promise.
Shouldn't you compost dog poop as well (vs just letting it sit in the anerobic environment of a plastic baggie)?
I remember reading somewhere that poop ads up to a significant amount of the trash being thrown out in the city; so much so that they have compost bins @ dog parks, right?
Here it is. 4% of trash in SF is pet feces
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/pets/detail?entry_id=48147
www.ProjectGreenBag.com
Ya know, maybe they could use this logic....
Prior to the ban being in place, Lucky's was Albertsons, and Lucky's never signed onto the ban?
Ahhh eff it...I want my plastic bags back!
After shopping at Lucky's you'll want a plastic bag to put over your head - paper just doesn't suffocate fast enough.
If I start to shop at Lucky's my trashcan will love me.