wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Before I switched to cloth bags, I'd come home from my weekly shopping trip to Fairway for my family of four with an average of 20 bags (they double bag everything!) When I realized that one family alone was consuming over 1,000 bags a year, and I thought of that multiplied by every other family in the U.S.,I was mortified. I went online in search of reusable shopping bags and didn't find any that were functional AND attractive (what can I say? like a lot of other NYers, I care about style) So I designed my own and now offer them in my online shop at www.minusbags.com. I am happy to say that more people are joining the "byob" movement. It's all about getting the information out there and providing alternatives. Mayor Bloomberg's office needs to get a public awareness campaign going and more shops need to provide incentives.

aaaarrrghg! I hate it when interviewers do this: A caller asks a great question, the guest calls it a great question, then the interviewer -- as usual unable to resist the urge to comment on EVERYTHING -- diverts the conversation onto a new track and a new caller without the great question being addressed at all!! Guy asked what I've always wondered, since I use those supermarket plastic bags to dispose of my garbage, what's my best option?? That should have been addressed. I'm sorry, but I am simply not going to store a huge pile of garbage in my apartment until I have enough to fill a "garbage bag", however green it may be.

I listened to this program and got very frustrated to hear Kate Singding use the excuse of economic hardship to justify not charging people for plastic bags in shops etc, as suggested and referenced by another listener (ie EU). First of all, what did people facing economic hardship do prior to the use of plastic or paper bags when shopping...they would have used a reusuable bag. Second, it is soooo disapointing to hear this from an organisation that is suppose to be lobbying and pursuing the quest for improving our urban environment etc. What about the concept of giving shoppers a discount if they bring their own shopping bag - this isn't rocket science and I think there should be a lot more social pressure on people to get on with this stuff. I have only recently moved to NY from UK and Australia and I can honestly say there are some real problems with recycling and the use of plastic bags in NY. I for one, hope to help this by contacting NRDC and seeing what can be done to improve things.

I missed the show -- did anyone talk about re-using plastic bags for dog waste? Is this eco friendly at all?

(and yes, I know about cellulose dog bags)

I bring plastic bags to The Food Emporium and they give me a 2 cent credit for each bag I use to pack my groceries.I do not know their policy on canvas bags but I would guess it is the same.

I grew up in Eastern Europe where we didn't even use plastic bag liners for our trash cans, we just wash them every time. Now that I go back in the 2000sands, there are plastic bags and bottles all over the streets and everywhere.
Using plastic bags is not necessary, we need to remember that. And yeah, it seems like at the stores clerks are so programmed to bag things that they stand there gaping when you say you don't need a bag, we need to change this mentality, how about a public announcement on TV? So many people don't think twice about all this stuff we throw out.

I shop quite a bit at a local supermarket that frowns on customers bringing their own bags because they prefer to just put items in the store plastic bags right as they scan them. Also the manager once told me that they want their bags with the logo out on the street.

The good news is that they've now put in a self-scanner so I can bag my groceries (15 items or less!) into whatever I want. Other stores also have self-bag lanes, so there are more and more options out there.

However beverages in glass bottles taste better and will not react chemically with the glass as they might in a plastic bottle depending on the ingredients of the beverage.

The Aldi grocery store chain (I'm assuming it exists in N.Y.) also charges for plastic bags and paper bags. More power to them!

Could you do a show on those plastic take out containers? I sure they're made in biodegradable form and would love to see the city give businesses incentives to use something that will have less of an impact on the planet. Everyone in NYC eats take out and I can only reuse so many containers. The average consumer needs help on this!

Oh yes, and I've got checkers who role their eyes or seem to think I'm putting them out by REFUSING a plastic bag! I can put a banana in my purse, it's really no big deal!

I've been carrying a canvas tote for over 25 years, not only because I've always hated plastics of any sort having grown up with the mockery of "Made in Japan/Taiwan" of the 70's for being Asian, and being in Hawaii, Ithaca and NYC seeing nature at its best vs. piles upon piles of garbage (mostly plastic that will take eons to disintergrate. It is not a difficult thing to carry a bag, or to refrain from buying products wrapped in excess layers of plastic, esp. at organic markets/shops and even farmer's markets. It's not difficult to shed ourselves of some minor convenience to help the earth breath a bit better for all of us.

a major chunk of the check-out process at many supermarkets seems to have been designed around platic bags, their dispensors, etc.

customers using their own bags can slow things down. (i happen to be willing to deal with that, but suspect that many others are not.)

i think in order for customer-provided bags to become the norm some work needs to be done with major supermarket chains to make the check-out and bagging process more customer-provided bag friendly.

I take clean plastic bags *out* of the trash--or rather, the recycling bin. This both keeps them from going into recycling, where they don't belong (a lot of people put their newspapers in plastic bags in the bins)--out of the waste stream in general--& keeps a new plastic bag from being used (by me). Plus, it's free, & much lighter & more foldable than a cloth bag. I reuse the bag until it's falling apart, & use it 1 more time to take my garbage to be composted. Until plastic bags are so phased out you can't find once-used ones anymore, I think this is the best option.

Some stores, esp. health food stores, give a discount of a few cents if you bring your own bags...whatever they're made of.

Whole Foods is offering a "Grape" bag for only $1 - it's quite large - larger than any of my other canvas bags, and has long handles. I was so excited to see it, I may go back just to buy a few more, even when I don't live within 1/2 hour of one!

Just wanted to mention Fresh Direct's packaging waste - I got my groceries this morning and they used a full box for a dozen eggs and another full box for a single box of pasta. Add that to the trucking and I wonder if I should go back to old grocery store.

I have a surplus of cloth tote bags and bring them with me to the store wherever and whenever I can. And I am always amazed at the resistance of checkout clerks and shopkeepers. They really, really want to give me a bag!

charging for plastic bags would be too much to bear for some "segments of society"--did I hear your guest right? How tough is it to find & reuse bags one has already accumulated?? Sounds more like an inconvenience than causing economic hardship of that's what she meant.

The benefits for all would far outweigh the inconvenience or hardship experienced by anyone.

People must buy food, but beyond what's necessary to eat and survive, here's a solution:

STOP SHOPPING SO MUCH.

This is a trick question! Right at the beginning, your guest gave the answer - reusable bags you bring yourself! It doesn't have to be a big canvas bag, now several companies (i.e. Chico Bags, Acme bags, Reisenthal) make bags that fold up so small you can just leave them in your purse. It's not that hard to remember if you train yourself.

And to the person who was worried about using yet more plastic for their garbage - you can by garbage bags made from %100 recycled plastic, closing the loop.

I used to ALWAYS carry my own bag and say no to bags at the grocery store! But now I live with my boyfriend and his two dogs... we live in the city, I walk the dogs, I have to scoop their poop! so now I always ask for plastic, and I go through 3-8 plastic bags a day, scooping dog poop! Is there an eco-friendly way to scoop poop? I'd love to reduce my consumption of plastic bags, but I'm not touching it with my hands!!! and i don't fancy the idea of scooping it with something re-usable which I would then have to tote around and wash off... yuck!! has anybody else ever considered this problem?

Trader Joes gives a raffle ticket to anyone who brings their own bags. I have been entered many times to win a TJ gift certificate but sadly have never won.

Its a good way to promote bringing your own canvas bag!

Plastic is NEVER an alternative. They do not biodegrade and they are MADE OF OIL!!!!!!!!!!1

Greenpeace co-founder says use more trees, not less. He says "Rather than cutting fewer trees and using less wood, DiCaprio and Berman ought to promote the growth of more trees and the use of more wood.

Trees are the most powerful concentrators of carbon on Earth. Through photosynthesis, they absorb CO2 from the atmosphere and store it in their wood, which is nearly 50 per cent carbon by weight...

To address climate change, we must use more wood, not less. Using wood sends a signal to the marketplace to grow more trees and to produce more wood. That means we can then use less concrete, steel and plastic -- heavy carbon emitters through their production. Trees are the only abundant, biodegradable and renewable global resource."

http://conservativepublisher.blogspot.com/2007/08/greenpeace-co-founder-says-use-more.html

It would really help a lot of grocery cashiers had a clue on HOW TO BAG GROCERIES! You ever get one of those morons who put 1-2 items in a plastic bag and then move on to the next one?? You end up walking out with twenty bags when maybe only six would have been necessary!

I think the same question applies to the debate over disposable or washable diapers. Millions of diapers in the landfill or all that laundry detergent?

At least paper bags are biodegradable. But yes, canvas tote bag is preferable.

Grocery stores should charge for bags-- that will get more people to buy the canvas bags.

Either that, or look into freeganism.

So come brothers and sisters,
For the struggle carries on.
The Internationale,
Unites the world in song.
So comrades, come rally,
For this is the time and place!
The international ideal,
Unites the human race.

Not just cloth bags, folks. Those plastic produce bags? Shove them in a paper towel tube and reuse them as well. Even the flimsy ones are good for two or three uses (unless you're buying artichokes.)

I'm an avid environmentalist and own a small deli. I have started a policy where if a customer brings his/her own bag for lunch purchases, I knock $1 off the ring-up price.

Well we might want to do what Europeans do, charge for a bag and so many--most--Europeans do bring a cloth bag with them. You can buy the cloth bags in most stores in Europe and so it's one way to retrain ourselves to buying and carrying our own cloth bag. Now stores here, e.g., Trader Joe's, are selling the cloth bags.

In many European countries, one must pay per bag. It's a great incentive to bring a cloth bag. I'm shocked by how unthinkingly Americans just take four or five bags per trip to the grocery store! Buy yourself a cute cloth bag, and be done with it!

I challenged myself to take a cloth bag everywhere I went for a month. If I was picking up one or two small items or just lunch, I tried to go without a bag and just carry my purchases. One month and I've never gone back. Try it. Go to K-Mart or Target with a tote bag. Take your backpack to the grocery store. Say "No bag please" at the deli counter. Just try it.

here's an opportunity to plug the eco-tote as a pledge permium!

(btw: it might be nice to offer a bunch of these together for those who do large shopping trips. these things roll up pretty tightly, so you could probably get five rolled up bags inside of a sixth.)