Comments on: Going green, New York style

By: Brooklyn

Brooklyn — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 15:50:44 +0000

I’m curious.
One (or maybe two) objection(s) to the required use of re-usable shopping bags I thought were valid in NYC was that since NY’rs don’t drive everywhere, so a re-useable bag sits in a car trunk (boot- Hah-hah Dylan, I can do this too) for instant use, a NY’r would have to schlep one around while on foot and on the subway (tube) on the chance he or she may stop at a market on the way home from work or whatever, and would have to buy plastic bags as a trashcan (bin) liner anyway.

Assuming Londoner’s have the same commuting patterns as NY’rs, do they carry reuseable bags around just because they might pop into the green grocers on the way home for a pound of potatoes?

By: Brit' Gal Sarah

Brit' Gal Sarah — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:19:26 +0000

Having not been home for approaching 4 years now, I expect this change in supermarkets to be one of the things I really notice. That and smoke free pubs at last!

I always try to take the paper bags when offered, but there’s no getting away from the fact that plastic bags make great bin liners!

By: Almost American

Almost American — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:32:49 +0000

I remember having to pay for plastic bags at Qwiksave back in the 1970s. They always had a good supply of cardboard boxes at the front of the store though, so we usually avoided having to pay for bags.

I live in a particularly earthy-crunchy town where all the supermarkets sell reusable bags. At the supermarket I go to we get 5 cents off our order for each bag we reuse. They do have the flimsy plastic bags if you need them, or paper bags. I’m wondering how long it will take them before they try to charge for the plastic & paper bags. Wally-World is the only place I shop around here where very few people seem to use reusable bags – yet the evil empire does sell them.

By: Expat Mum

Expat Mum — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 14:04:00 +0000

I have my shopping delivered (you try shopping with three kids) and am always amazed that single items come with their own plastic bag. To be fair, I can give them all back to the delivery man to be “recycled”, but Chicago has no recycling program whatsoever.
We were recently told that all analog TVs would soon be pretty much useless*, but we can’t leave them out to be removed, nor is the city providing anywhere to take them. No, we are on our own and will probably have to pay for the privilege.
* I know you can buy the box, but ours date back to the 1980s I swear.

By: NFAH

NFAH — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 12:43:19 +0000

I do like the M&S Food Hall policy of charging even for normal bags now (and charging more for the heavier ones). Does it mean that I remember my cloth or thick plastic reusable bags 100% of the time? No, and I doubt it ever will seeing as I don’t always plan too far ahead with the shopping. But at least I feel sufficiently guilty when I have to buy bags when I know there are some perfectly good ones lying around at home.

The problem, however, is when someone says they need to buy two bags and then find after paying for their food that they actually needed three, and the cashier then has to start a new transaction and get the customer to dig out 5p to pay for the extra bag. That is a time-sink that I don’t think many Americans would tolerate.

By: Star

Star — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 21:43:03 +0000

My Sainsburys has stopped giving out disposable orange bags now. Instead we buy a stronger version, which is larger too, and we are expected to use it over and over again. I bought 8 of them and I regularly use 5 or 6 a week and it works really well. I hope they will start doing that in America too. I know they sell the sewn bags, which are excellent and I have also seen a recylcing container for the disposable bags over there.
By the way, you may not know that this year, Sainsburys have put in a container for red noses. We can get them recylced too now. LOL
Blessings, Star

By: Silverback

Silverback — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 19:29:45 +0000

Hey I’m doing my bit and brought no less than 5 reusable WalMart bags back to England with me to use in my local Sainsburys.

Ok this wasn’t so much an environmental decision as a ‘lets see the look on the checkout person’s face’ decision.

And as an added bonus, they have to have surpassed the key chain condom as my most practical US souvenir ever – considering IT wasn’t reusable !!