solarpunk memes

Not banned in my area, and I use reusable bags anyway. So do other people, though it's still uncommon.

Yeah, it's been banned in New Jersey for the last couple years. It was a cool overnight shift and it's just second nature to just leave reusable bags in my car now for when I need them.

I'm a Washingtonian and have thought the same. It has led to more people bringing their own bag(s), though.

In Chicago we did the same thing, but we only charge $0.07 per bag, and they're the exact same crappy plastic bags we had before.

A plastic bag tax came into for in the UK a few years back. The fee was minimal, but it was still remarkably effective. It's not the amount, its the fact you have to pay at all. Most people have transitioned to using reusable bags. It's made a significant dent in plastic bag waste.

The proper way to do this was get like nice cloth bags that cost much more maybe like $10 or something so people actually get the message

Yeah, I do that because it was difficult to get into the habit of bringing bags with me. Now I probably have over 109 10¢ plastic bags

But I do reuse them. I’m getting good at remembering to bring them and haven’t had to buy more in months. However sometimes it seems like I’m the only one. I’ve had cashiers be confused about them so it probably really is rare.

My biggest concern is portability - I can fold up these plastic bags and carry a few in pretty much any pocket, but how would I carry cloth bags? Do I need to invest in cargo pants just so I can use reusable grocery bags?

In Austin, there was a short period of time where all grocery stores were legally required to ditch plastic bags.

A successful campaign strategy for city council right after that was to run against the plastic bag ban because people kept forgetting their reusable bags. Everybody agreed they are bad but individualism and a sense of laziness prevailed. This is America.

Depends on the state/area.

I know at least in Georgia (US), they still had those tissue paper thin bags at Target when I was there on business earlier in the year. They may have had reusable bags that you could buy didn't notice any), yet I didn't see a single person using one.

This is genius! thanks for sharing 🙂

Other people bagging stuff for you is a thing? I have never seen it in my life in Europe. Unless you have a disability then to me it just seems like adding extra work to the workers for no real purpose

+1 on leaving bags in the car

And this concept of bagging at the car just blew my mind

We have this awesome thing in a lot of places where you can use a scanner and scan as you shop. You can put the bag in the cart and bag while you shop. When you get to the self checkout, you can use the scanner and instantly pay for everything and be out within seconds. I pay with my phone so just a touch is needed and I'm out of there. If you are the carry bags kind you can even take the bag out of the cart, return the cart to the correct place and walk to the car with the bag. It's so fast and efficient.

I've become so spoiled I actively avoid places that don't have such a thing. And I hate people who have a full cart at the self checkout and scan everything much much slower than the regular checkout with a person who's job it is to do that. It's fine if you have like 5 items and just scan them quickly at the self checkout. Anything beyond that really should be scanned during the shopping or just go to the regular checkout which is designed to handle a lot of stuff.

Same. That’s what I mean by reusable bag.

Even if you do drive, one big-ass backpack is way more managable than any number of smaller bags or (god forbid) multiple trips.

The hard part for me is remembering to return it to the car once all the groceries are put up.

It’s OK my local Walmart will force you to do your own checking out in the future anyway.

I have these reusable nets for fruits & veggies, and I always figured I'd encounter a cashier at some point, who'll say "Excuse me, you need to be destroying the environment, otherwise I cannot weigh these".

Thankfully, I have not yet (here in the Europes), but the self-checkout register at one of the shops genuinely has a step programmed in where it asks you, if you're using a reusable net or similar. If you click "Yes", it has the nerve to ask you to remove it before weighing. And it's just like:

Thankfully, self-checkout registers can be easily lied to, so I just tell it that my veggies are unpacked.