Posted on 06/03/2016 8:57:59 PM PDT by Darren McCarty
ANN ARBOR, MI If you don't bring your own reusable bags when you go grocery shopping, it could cost you.
Washtenaw County commissioners voted 6-2 Wednesday night to approve a new carryout bag ordinance that imposes a 10-cent fee on consumers for every disposable bag they receive at retail grocery stores in the county.
That includes both paper and plastic.
The ordinance is intended to eliminate unnecessary waste and incentivize people to be more environmentally conscious.
However, there's pending state legislation that could take away the county's ability to impose such regulations.
Senate Bill 853 passed through the state Senate on May 10 and awaits approval from the state House.
The county plans to hold off on actively enforcing the new ordinance until Earth Day next year, which is April 22, 2017.
That gives retail grocery stores and consumers time to prepare for the implementation of the regulations.
The ordinance was opposed by Commissioners Dan Smith, R-Northfield Township, and Ronnie Peterson, D-Ypsilanti.
Ruth Ann Jamnick was absent.
(Excerpt) Read more at mlive.com ...
Reusable bags are a great way to spread germs from the cart to the conveyor belt at the checkout, to your car trunk, to the kitchen counter. Excellent cross-contamination potential now exists with the supermarket as the nexus.
So, you put your reusable bag on the conveyor belt? Why would anyone do that?
Darwin award!
So, you put your reusable bag on the conveyor belt? Why would anyone do that?
Ok. Technically on the steel slide off the end of the conveyor belt on the checkout. But the point is, it’s the same place everyone else is setting their dirty used bags.
The County gets 8 cents. It’s a Tax. Stores have to report. That makes it slavery.
So, just don’t do that. Or change the channel.
>> Reusable bags are a great way to spread germs
bacteria, bugs, micro-organisms...
Yup, the idiots are in charge.
All a store has to do is SELL the damned things
NO legislation is needed
There is no need for legislation,
just stop giving bags away, bite the bullet as a cheap prick and SELL the damned things to the customer
Ring 'em up on the register tape
People will get the idea and provide for themselves BY themselves.
We’ve had a state wide $.05 tax on bags here for 2 years. No store I’ve ever gone to charges the tax. It’s just an unspoken thing. They create the tax, everyone ignores it.
Economy plastic bags $18/1000 = 2 cents each. Supermarket quality = 4 cents each.
I reuse the ones I get from the store for kitty litter disposal.
If I remember correctly, there was a study done years ago on reusable bags that found them to be breeding grounds for harmful bacteria. How many times do you purchase meat in packages that leak blood? Add to that the occasional leaking milk carton and whatever else is available and the bags turn into a Petrie dish of bacteria just waiting for your next purchase.
The solution is to find a use for old bags. Then people will be more inclined to properly dispose of them. In communities where I have lived, grocery stores promoted and provided for bag collection.
We recycle those plastic bags, 1 as small trash can liners, 2 as waste disposal for food scraps, so the kitchen doesn’t stink 3 left overs go back to the a recycle box at the store. And I’ve used them to store items from summer to winter clothing. Or stuffing for gift packages. Lots of uses for them.
What about all those DISPOSABLE diapers that take 500 years to decompose they going to tax or get rid of them and go back to cloth ones? Now they use them for adults too.
The nightly news LIBTADS suggested you take your old prescriptions and dump them in a cereal box and seal it and dispose of it in the local land fill. Just don’t flush down the toilet, contaminates the water supply, as if putting them in the land fill doesn’t do the exact same thing. Then throw out the bottles in the land fill too.
I take them back to the pharmacy and they dispose of them the correct way when they dispose of their out of date meds.
Want something besides those cheap plastic chinese bags they are trying to sell you, make your own to the size you want. You can even line them with quilt batting for insulation of cold stuff. Takes 10-20 mins to make. And they are washable and last longer.
Here is one tutorial many more on line you can add zippers or decorate as you like or keep it simple or color code them for types of food items. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEnaFutDodg
Most of these bags are made of recycled bags in the first place and thus are much thinner. We have occasion to buy bottle water, Kroger brand is recycled bottles and very thin and harder to handle as they are so fragile compared to the other name brands.
Make your own, including a bag to carry them in. They want you to BUY their cheap plastic chinese bags at $1.50 a bag, they don’t last to long. Where as home made ones do and are washable, and make great gifts for carrying things and for Christmas or gift bags, will last years like cloth diapers did.
Non-disposable bags are breeding grounds for bacteria.
I see people just buying disposable bags on Amazon.
MAKE YOUR OWN they last longer and are washable. Good for gift bags too. Can be made in any size and with quilt batting and a second layer to add strength. Never let them bag any bottle with a handle product.
I quilt, and make them for all kinds of carry projects from a Library bag to groceries. To putting quilts in them when I do one for a present it provides the proper cotton storage that a quilt needs. Or I make a matching set of pillow cases, or you can do the bags and pillow cases for the quilt. Make great purses too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEnaFutDodg
Aldi’s and Save A Lot provide boxes you can use at the front of the store.
I prefer to make my own. Last longer, does not end up in the land fill, just gets re purposed when finished with it, after it’s been washed. Beat them at their scam.
Well, we have one running for President right now. Two, if Senator Sanders decides to pull a Bruce Jenner.
You can buy a box of plastic bags on Amazon; I thought about selling them in the parking lots. The stores hate it. And people bag their stuff in the store, so it looks like they’ve already paid. Causing lots of problems.
I’d be pretty sure re-usable bags are bad science. Wife uses them and they degrade pretty fast. Only biodegradable make any sense at all. Even them, maybe 10-20 trips and they are falling apart. Depending on what is put in them. And, they are unsanitary. Sitting in the bottom of a dirty cart. Carrying unwashed items.
And, thin plastic would only be a degrading problem if they took off the handles which catch birds and whatnot.
If someone studied this, seriously, I think there would be a end to it.
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