# Plastic bags and the powers of persuasion **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 22, 2008, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-bags-and-the-powers-of-persuasion/453774 "2008-06-22T10:47:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2008, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-bags-and-the-powers-of-persuasion/453774/41 "2008-06-22T23:53:25Z")
In my suburb of Cleveland, one supermarket uses blue plastic bags; they’re intended to be reused for curbside recycling. (Any metal, plastic with a number, or paper can be recycled curbside, but they must be placed with similar items. Paper in paper bags, everything else separated and in in blue plastic.) There’s also the option of paper or 99 cent reusable bags. Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s: no plastic, just paper or reusable. I’d like to try to bring reusable Whole Food bags into Giant Eagle someday, and see the response. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2008, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-bags-and-the-powers-of-persuasion/453774/42 "2008-06-22T23:59:39Z")
[QUOTE=elmwood] I’d like to try to bring reusable Whole Food bags into Giant Eagle someday, and see the response. [/QUOTE] I bring Whole Foods bags into Aldi, and vice versa, quite frequently. No one bats an eye. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-bags-and-the-powers-of-persuasion/453774/43 "2008-06-23T00:25:38Z")
[QUOTE=NineToTheSky] I Do you Yanks have to put up with this sort of holier-than-thou attitude, or is it just us miserable Brits? [/QUOTE] Not yet, but the Municipality of Anchorage PTB are talking about putting into effect a 10 cent per bag fee. They aren’t doing it solely for greenage, but because during the “Chinook” (the warm snow melting winds and breezes we get around Spring Breakup) we get a lot of garbage turning up as the snow melts, and apparently a lot of it is in the form of plastic bags. I have the oh-so-trendy canvas bags, but I am forever forgetting to bring them with me, and like you, I discover I need to grab a few things when I am without them. Also, I re-use my plastic bags at least once before throwing away. You’d think the PTB would come up with a manmade (non tree killing) biodegradeable throwaway bag by now wouldn’t you? ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-bags-and-the-powers-of-persuasion/453774/44 "2008-06-23T00:30:29Z")
[QUOTE=Harmonious Discord] Another punish you for shopping here practice is the grocers that won’t give you a lower advertised price, because you don’t have a store card. Screw them. [/QUOTE] I like the way our grocer does it. They have a courtesy card that they’ll swipe if you forget yours, so you still get the discount. However, they also give gasoline discounts for shopping there, which you won’t get if you don’t have your card. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-bags-and-the-powers-of-persuasion/453774/45 "2008-06-23T01:37:21Z")
I have eight of [these sturdy shopping bags](http://www.presidentschoice.ca/FoodAndRecipes/HealthyLiving/Editorial.aspx/id/653). Cost? 99c each, bought over a period of about a year. They will hold almost everything I’m likely to buy at one time. They have carried exercise weights, computer equipment, books, food, clothing, and drink. I usually have one with my now as I go about the city. Today I made a number of purchases that had _no packaging whatsoever!_ ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-bags-and-the-powers-of-persuasion/453774/46 "2008-06-23T07:31:15Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] I tried to cry one tiny tear for you, **NineToTheSky** , but it evaporated long before it reached the ground. You have only yourself to blame, on so many different levels. [/QUOTE] Please explain. ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-bags-and-the-powers-of-persuasion/453774/47 "2008-06-23T07:34:00Z")
[QUOTE=Stranger On A Train] The biggest problem with plastic bags isn’t recycling, it is that people will throw them out as litter, and because most plastic bags are made of non-biodegradable polyethylene, they end up in lakes, streams, and oceans where they interfere with aquatic life, often to severe detriment (i.e. whales eating non-digestable plastic bags assuming them to be jellyfish). Stranger [/QUOTE] Actually, I think that is what I meant: why can’t they be made biodegradable? ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-bags-and-the-powers-of-persuasion/453774/48 "2008-06-23T08:09:37Z")
They can, it just costs more. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-bags-and-the-powers-of-persuasion/453774/49 "2008-06-23T08:51:00Z")
[QUOTE=NineToTheSky] Please explain. [/QUOTE] OK (please observe my tongue is in my cheek): > [@](#): > > I fear that this isn’t significant enough for the pit, but I am becomimg increasingly pissed off by one of our major supermakets: Marks and Spencer (M & S) to wit. > > Just to make it clear, M & S are a wonder. It’s only one aspect of their food departments that I have an issue with. They supply a huge range of mouthwatering ready meals and high quality food and wines You willingly shop at M&S - I’m afraid that destroyed my sympathy right from the start. I don’t deny that they sell some decent stuff, but on the whole, I think they could do with less of the pretentious wank. > [@](#): > > but recently have joined the ‘save the planet from plastic carrier bags’ syndrome. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m as keen as the next man to stop our kids being fried, drowned and asphixiated by global warming, nor do I want to see them drowning in a sea of non biodegradeable substances, but I’m damned if I’m going to be bullied into doing it. But _are_ you as keen? Really? if you were, this thread wouldn’t exist at all, because your eagerness to do these things would have meant you’d never fallen foul of the problem. > [@](#): > > You see, what those pompous prats have decided is, if you don’t bring your own carrier bags, they fine you by charging you 5p for one of theirs. It’s not the money, by the way, it’s the principle. Sometimes, I’m just passing and want to impulse buy a few things, and no, Mr Smartypants, I haven’t thought to stuff a selection of carrier bags into my trouser pockets. So I get to the till, and the smarmy cashier says, “Have you brought your bags?”, and all the other people in the queue are sniggering at my lack of greeness when I say no. M&S - a store that makes an art form out of pretentious wank. Just not surprising to find pretentious wankers there, sneering at you. > [@](#): > > So I’m embarrassed, but I’m not going to give in and pay for one of the damn bags. So I pile up my purchases in my arms against my chest, and because your (non recyclable, for god’s sake) packaging is leaking, I’m getting a multicoloured stain dribbling down my chest. > > By this stage, I’m totally regretting even stepping into your emporium. But I’m not giving up: I’m a man of principle who isn’t going to be browbeaten by your corporate bullying. So, stained, and bloodied, but with head held high, I stagger into the British high street. Yeah! I hate your store so much I’m still going to buy your expensive stuff! That’ll teach 'em. > [@](#): > > So, why can’t you do what one of our other supermarkets do, and pay me points on my card when I bring my own bags? You see, they’ve got it the right way round: reward me for being a goody-two-shoes, not castigate me for not doing it your way. Reward not punishment. You’re like the dinner guest who unknowingly drinks the finger bowl - clearly out of your depth in the M&S ocean of pretentious-wank-etiquette. You do not belong here. Go to Tesco. ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-bags-and-the-powers-of-persuasion/453774/50 "2008-06-23T09:54:43Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] You’re like the dinner guest who unknowingly drinks the finger bowl - clearly out of your depth in the M&S ocean of pretentious-wank-etiquette. You do not belong here. Go to Tesco. [/QUOTE] Oh god, no! You mean they’ve found me out. I \*so \*wanted to belong. Will I belong even in Tesco? Should I be setting my sights lower- maybe Lidl? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-bags-and-the-powers-of-persuasion/453774/51 "2008-06-23T10:38:10Z")
Let’s not go from one extreme right to the other, at least until you’ve got your first ASBO. ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-bags-and-the-powers-of-persuasion/453774/52 "2008-06-23T10:40:21Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] Let’s not go from one extreme right to the other, at least until you’ve got your first ASBO. [/QUOTE] I’ve applied for one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-bags-and-the-powers-of-persuasion/453774.md?page=2)