Free Republic

Widespread confusion persists among merchants over Dallas’ new carryout bag ordinance, even as the law appears to be successfully moving shoppers away from throwaway bags. *** Half Price Books, for example, was erroneously told that its new reusable bags, which cost 10 times as much as the old bags, didn’t have the right wording. Kroger was chided because signs in its parking lots weren’t in Spanish as well as English. *** Half Price Books, after studying the ordinance closely, decided to invest in more expensive reusable bags to provide to shoppers. So people there were surprised when one of their...

A proposal in Virginia to charge shoppers a 20-cent per bag fee on all plastic bags used by grocery shoppers to carry purchased goods has sparked intense debate, WTOP reported. The fee would not apply to durable, reusable bags, or bags used for ice cream, meat, fish or poultry. Sponsors of the measure say it is not meant to raise money, but to cut down on litter and pollution. They expect it will likely be cut down to 5 cents once a review begins in committee, according to WTOP.

Researchers from the University of Arizona swabbed shopping cart handles in four states looking for bacterial contamination. Of the 85 carts examined, 72 percent turned out to have a marker for fecal bacteria. The researchers took a closer look at the samples from 36 carts and discovered Escherichia coli, more commonly known as E. coli, on 50 percent of them - along with a host of other types of bacteria. Shopping cart handles aren't the only thing you need to worry about when you go to the local supermarket, Gerba added. In other research, he's found that reusable shopping bags...