"grocery bags" news and stories

San Francisco is considering making a change that will affect most shoppers in the city: they're talking about instituting a ban on the use of plastic grocery bags. Lawmakers are blaming the bags for everything from "littering streets and choking wildlife" to playing a major part in global warming. The expect that such a change will save the city millions of dollars, although taxpayers may have an increased out-of-pocket expense for reusable canvas (or other materials) shopping bags and alternative plastic bags that would serve the functions that reused grocery bags often do now (lining small trash bins, picking up after dogs, etc.).

San Francisco is not the first city to consider such legislation. Plastic bags are either taxed or not used in parts of South Africa, Ireland and Taiwan. Bangladesh has banned them and Zanzibar, Rwanda and Paris are also considering a ban. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors will vote on the measure next week and, if passed, it will take effect in six months.

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Everyone needs to grocery shop at some point, fueling the continuing desire to live, even if you're not a big fan of doing your own cooking. Grocery stores have their own standards for packing bags based upon how to enable your foods to travel well: cold items with cold items, produce in one bag, don't cram too much in. The last rule is the one that gets tricky because sometimes it seems like you end up with 10 bags for 10 items when you're leaving the store. It could be more, if some of the plastic ones are doubled-bagged. Recycling the paper and plastic bags is an excellent idea, but switching to canvas grocery bags is an even better one. They are reusable, so they help cut down on waste, and many stores will even give you a per-bag discount for bringing them in! The bags can be purchased at many supermarkets, as well as being available online, and will pay for themselves in a few uses. They usually cost from $7-12.