The Evolution of the Shopping Bag

Published May 27, 2008 @ 12:40 in Miscellaneous

boxI have memories from my childhood of my parents carrying in the groceries in paper bags. The groceries always came home in these paper bags and then, almost overnight, the paper bags disappeared.

Plastic bags became the norm. The economy grocery stores eventually started charging us 5¢ a plastic bag, but there were lots of plastic bags and no paper ones. For awhile, I missed the paper bags, but then I forgot about them.

Now comes word that the LCBO is phasing out plastic shopping bags at its retail outlets.

The plastic bag ban is part of a growing environmental movement that began in March 2007 when San Francisco became the first North American city to ban non-recyclable plastic bags made from petroleum products.

The Manitoba town of Leaf Rapids followed suit later that month, becoming the first Canadian municipality to block retailers from selling or distributing plastic bags.

Plastic bags dissolve over 1,000 years, according to the environmental research group Worldwatch Institute. The group says consumers around the globe dispose of 500 billion plastic sacs every year.

One day we'll talk about plastic bags the way I just reminisced about paper ones. It's all about environmentally friendly reusable bags. Once we get rid of these damns plastic bags we'll ban hand guns, hand gun clubs and cellphones while driving.

10 Responses to "The Evolution of the Shopping Bag"

James Edgar
May 27, 2008 / 14:59

wouldn't paper bags be OK.? Why don't we go back to them?

Argie
May 27, 2008 / 16:04

I’m so happy the world will be a better place because a province of about 10 million will no longer be using plastic bags from the LCBO. This will save our threatened planet.

Wake up people!!! What Ontario or even Canada does has such a tiny impact on the state of this planet. We should be concerned about India and China (the most populated and the biggest polluters areas of the world).

Andrew
May 27, 2008 / 16:07

Right Argie. So we shouldn't care.

If you person pees in the pool then we all should. What difference does it make?

Daniel
May 27, 2008 / 18:42

Argie,

Being cynical about a community's efforts in the right direction doesn't really help the situation. You should be praising their decision and therefore encouraging others to do the same.

Tee
May 27, 2008 / 19:59

Maybe the government can start waking me up, picking out my clothes, cooking my meals and wiping my ass. What a perfect world that would be.

Mike (Buffalo Boy)
May 27, 2008 / 21:03

some things Tee wont change on their own and you know it. Its a small sacrifice, big deal, you know I used to know a Canada or at least a Toronto where the people gave a shit about their environment and the government didn't have to create those types of things.
Think about the lack of debris on the side of the roads after the winter snows melt, alot of that debris is the plastic bags that are being banned. I wish Buffalo would do the same. There is a big push to it with Wegmans, Tops and many other smaller grocery chains making that push but its voluntary and even if people do get them, generally they are one of two things, lazy or forgetful so the only sure way to promote it is to ban it.

Solarphile
May 27, 2008 / 22:07

Argie

China has now overtaken the US as the world's worst polluter. But China's per capita pollution is only one quarter of that in the US. Canada is not far behind.

The collective efforts of lots of individuals can and do make a difference.

Stephanie
May 28, 2008 / 09:15

I have heard that the newly opened Real Canadian Superstores no longer have plastic bags. They encourage you to bring your own, the bin or if you forget all that, but one of thier carry-bags for 99 cents.

You won't do that too many times....

No bags at Costco..

Greg
May 28, 2008 / 20:37

The Superstore that I use in Halifax has stopped using plastic bags. On the whole, I think that this is a good move, but man, is it every a pain the the ass when you forget your reusable bags. I'm a student thus I don't have a car so there's no option to store them there, so if I just decide to pop into the store on the way home then I pretty much have to buy new bags every time. Carrying a plethora of bags around with you is not an option when all you have is your bookbag. I think the good outweighs the evil, so I do support their decision, though it does cause somewhat of an inconvenience.

BreeBee
December 4, 2008 / 07:38

In Texas, there is the "Don't mess with Texas" slogan which is suppose to keep Texas cleaner. We also have our convicted felons on the sides of the streets picking up what is littered. I like this, because the felons are getting paid to do this so rather then paying a company to clean up our paper bags and waste product, we are giving them money for when they get released. What we honestly need to worry about is things like styrofoam that are non-biodegradeable.

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