Austin Group Moves to Ban Plastic Bags

If Austin bans plastic bags, will pot dealers have to start using matchboxes like they did in the 60s? This is a very important question for Potstinites!

Just use the damn canvas bags. You don't even have to buy them, just use the SXSW conference bags you've picked up over the years.

My friend makes big bags crocheted out of plastic bags...they're reusable and recycled. I love mine. Check out www.mishie.etsy.com if you're interested. They're called bagbags.

I don't think plastic bags in landfills is the good kind of carbon sequestration. The process of converting crude to plastic isn't exactly healthy and the breakdown of the plastic overtime isn't healthy for the environment either. Even plastic water bottles break down after a few uses and are unhealthy for humans (ie, don't refill the evian bottle more than once or twice if you don't want poisonous plastic residue in your body).

I'm just speculating that those plastic bags in a landfill would be bad sequestration, but paper bags are ALSO a form of carbon sequestration. Especially if you reuse them and don't recycle them. More and more trees are planted and farmed (and not burned) which results in carbon sequestration for sure.

Another thing: crude to make plastic has to (likely) be transported from outside the United States to be made into bags. (Or to China where the bags are made and then shipped to the United States)

Trees can be farmed and harvested right here in the United States and there definitely are paper facilities in America. Instead of paying some Saudi prince for your grocery receptacle, a paper bag is more likely to be employing an American worker in some tangential way.

Moral of my story: WHEN YOU USE PLASTIC BAGS, YOU FUND TERRORISTS! :)

If you don't want to use canvas bags then reuse your paper bags. I put about 20 paper bags in my trunk and they are always there when I need them, then once they are almost gone, I reload them into the trunk. You don't really have to think ahead this way and you only have to remember to put them in your trunk a couple of times a month.

If you don't want to use canvas bags then reuse your paper bags. I put about 20 paper bags in my trunk and they are always there when I need them, then once they are almost gone, I reload them into the trunk. You don't really have to think ahead this way and you only have to remember to put them in your trunk a couple of times a month.

We'll have to kill all the dogs that aren't smart enough to use the toilet.

i'm sure the quicky-mart will still have them for all your poopy needs.

plus you can always BUY garbage bags.

But if they ban plastic bags, what am I going to use to put the cat doodee in when I clean my litter boxes? (the cat litter pkg label says "do not flush")And dog walkers will leave their dog poop everywhere using banned plastic bags as an excuse.

What a quandry-ideas anyone?

Plastic bags in landfills = Carbon sequestration. The petroleum that is made into plastics and dumped is fossil fuels that won't end up exacerbating global warming.

The key is either getting them into the dump or recycling them. After that, they're good for the environment.

Benj,

Lemme guess... you were there to chew bubblegum and kick ass- and you were all out of bubblegum.

I bet if you had gum to chew on you wouldn't feel so aggressive.

About 2 hours ago the girl in front of me at HEB brought about nine canvas bags with her, and only needed one or two plastic ones. She thought ahead and actually did what most only talk about. But it wasn't really worth it, since it added at least 30 seconds to my wait in line. I kept screaming, "WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?! WHY ARE YOU SO SELFISH! JUST USE THE FUCKING PLASTIC ONES! HURRY UP, BITCH!" ...but it really didn't seem to help. Plus I forgot to buy gum.

You could buy two or three canvas bags. I just have to bring canvas because they hold a lot more than plastic and don't bust on the bus like paper.

As #4 said, it's simple in my opinion. Leave a couple of cloth bags on the floor of your passenger seat in your car. They are $4 each at HEB.

Otherwise, we'll be always contributing to this...

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1315/1438252947_eac9df217e_o.jpg" width="600" height="300" alt="Plastic Bags at the Austin Landfill" />

Canvas bags are a non-starter - those who could get away with them are probably already using them; the rest of us have to live in the real world where we usually are bringing back more than a bag or two worth of food.

If we could all live like I used to in the condo, where I'd buy food every day or two by walking across the street to Fresh Plus, it'd be more realistic - but we need a lot more condo infill for there to be workable grocery options that close to more than a handful of us, and remember, we're all supposed to hate condos or something.

goddamn I can't spell.

I don't see what's so hard abotu remembering to bring a canvas bag to the store with you, but then again I am not buying 15 12-packs of Coke and 50 loaves of white breat and 75 frozen pizzas at the HEB.

My understanding is that paper and plastic are similarly bad on the front end (paper uses trees, plastic uses oil, both use energy), but that paper is much better on the back end because it biodegrades instead of clogging up landfills and polluting waterways for hundreds of years.

Biodegradable is obviously a huge win, if you spend any time walking the creek trails downtown. The Irish solution is the one that makes the most sense, of course - because some people need plastic bags (although most don't) - so allow those who really need them to pay the extra cost it's going to take to clean them up.

Paper bags aren't much better... of course they're biodegradable, but they still require trees.