Shopping Bags

[supersurgilator]

I was wondering what kind of bags you guys use when you go to the grocery store. Do you get paper or plastic or use your own reusable bags.
If you use paper or plastic bags what do you do with all of your extras? Do you take them back for recycling or throw them away?

 

[circlew]

I used to usually get paper, but the last couple years I've got plastic most of the time. I use them for wet swim trunks and towels at the gym, taking things to friends and neighbors, and mostly for trash. I've found that a plastic grocery bag fits well into an empty Ultra Plus detergent box, and I use it for a kitchen trash can.

 

[kenmore700bill]

Plastic, Perfect for Dog Walking..

 

[mrb627]

Canvas Bags

I hate them stupid dinky plastic bags that hold 2 or 3 items. By the time you get home, everything is roaming free in the trunk of the car and you end up rebagging your groceries all over again.

Malcolm

 

[joeekaitis]

Plastic, which I knot the handles as I put each in the truck. Then I take them back to the store's recycling bin on the next trip.

 

[abcomatic]

Plastic, Kenmore Bill and I are on the same page, great for dog walking. I have taught Fred to "use" the bag without me having to pick up after him. Gary

 

[iheartmaytag]

I use a mixture of my own bags and plastic. Very few stores around here offer paper any longer, and if they do they charge five cents for them.

The plastic bags are perfect liners for the bathroom trash can. Good for used diaper disposal, doggie walking, makeshift rain bonnets, scarecrow flappers in the garden, and the remainder I return to the store to recycle.

 

[rp2813]

We're cruising toward a paper and plastic bag ban here beginning 1/1/12. While I find plastic convenient, I often ask for paper instead since I have quite an accumulation of plastic ones already, and paper isn't as big of a nightmare as plastic in the recycling process. Stores will still be allowed to use plastic bags for things like meats, fish and anything that can potentially leak, but paper bags will cost 5c each and the price will go up to 25c a year later. After seeing so many plastic bags blown up against highway fencing, etc on my recent trip, I can see that a ban is one way to remedy irresponsible behavior. It's likely the types of people who don't dispose of bags properly are also unwilling to pay for the privilege of littering. Fortunately, the ban is only a city-wide one and I do most of my grocery shopping in the adjacent town that will not be implementing a ban any time soon. Regardless, I'm going to start hauling around canvas bags in both cars. We have several of them so will grab them from the pantry and toss them in the cars.

 

[maytagbear]

Mix of cloth

and plastic here.

I use the plastic bags after they are empty to tidy up Rosa's litter boxes.

When it's only one or two small items, I completely and politely decline a bag.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[mrb627]

Canvas bags

The Canvas Bags at my supermarket are 95 cents each. And hey, they are cheaper than gift bags around the Holidays and for Birthdays alike.

I have had gift recipients happier to get the bag than the gif inside it...LOL!

Malcolm

 

[ptcruiser51]

Both

I use the paper for the garbage; the plastic gets returned for recycling at the store. THD has the cheesiest plastic bags, they actually start degrading on your trip home! I can't believe it would take 1000 years for these to fade away.

 

[petek]

Never see paper bags here anymore and all the grocery stores charge a nickel for a plastic one, except WalMart iirc. The nickel is "supposed" to go towards recycling or charity whatever but I'm sure it just lines the pockets of the store owners just as the bags line our kitchen pail.

 

[firedome]

Canvas reusable for the last 5 yrs or so. Never had one rip on us yet.

 

[xraytech]

For me it is plastic, unless I'm at Shop N Save(my grocery of choice) they are the only ones with paper and there I get paper in plastic.

I dont recycle here, about 1/3 of the plastic bags end up torn by time we get home, they go in the garbage, the good ones are used for collecting garbage in the bathrooms and kitchen, as well as anytime one needs a bag to carry something in, and when we end up with an abundance of plastic bags we give them to someone who's church make sleeping mats for the homeless with them.

Paper bags get used for heavier items,or to drain items when I deep fry.

When buying alot of refrigerated/freezer products I keep them unbagged and put them directly in my insulated Thirty-One market tote

 

[swestoyz]

I am proud to say that I've gone almost 3 years now using 2 Menard's reusable canvas bags from one of their 15 percent off sales, and 1 from a record shop near the downtown area in Omaha during each weekly grocery store trip.

Every so often I'll stop in a store to pick up a small item and forget a bag, but when I'm buying bulk groceries for myself, it has become automatic to reach behind the seat and grab the bags. Normally I'll tell the teller that I don't need a plastic bag and carry the the single item out in my bare hands with the receipt in my pocket.

So thankful for this lifestyle change - no need to clutter the wastelands with more plastic bags.

Ben

 

[petek]

I do have some of those canvassy grocery store bags but don't use them too often. For one thing I'm always forgetting to take them back into the car and secondly if you saw my car and the dog hair in it. It sticks to those bags like glue and I'd be sitting there for 30 minutes picking it off. And yes I do vacuum the car out but I can't do it everyday and I take the dogs with me alot in the car.

A couple of weekends ago I was crossing the bridge to go to Detroit and when I rolled down the window the border guard says.. Where's the dog? I replied.. thats just half of him,, the other halfs at home.

 

[tolivac]

Prefer the paper bags-Food Lion still uses them-or you can use the hateful plastic bags.and if I only buy one or two items-tell the clerk not to use a bag.and I don't put large heavy items suchs gallon milk cartons,detergent containers,etc in a bag-too big and heavy-carry those separatly.Yes,the bags of BOTH types contribute to litter.One time examined a stalled Alamo flail mower by the road-used as roadside mowers here-was amazing how many plastic shopping bags wrapped in the flails.the mower had a blown hydraulic hose.And to drive the flail cutting rotor-had the same sort of "grey" belts Maytag uses!they went to a hydraulic motor.there is even a separate bin at the "dump" here to put the plastic bags in--if only more people used it.

 

[polkanut]

We also use a combination of canvas & plastic.  We usually take our own bags along when shopping, especially @ Aldi's.

 

[dirtybuck]

We had the same discussion on this a few months ago (not that I mind, I like the topic).

I use both plastic and paper bags (plastic more). And yes, Circle, the plastic ones are perfect for hauling wet and damp items home from the gym. I carry a few extra ones in my gym bag as well.

I try to hang on to the bags from Target and Hy-Vee. These bags are a bit sturdier and can handle more weight over a Walmart or other store name plastic bag.

I live in a high rise apt. building. I've accumulated quite a few of these bags and use them daily for my trash, which I take to the trash chute at the end of the day. I've not used my regular kitchen trash can in ages because of this.

There are times, however, when I have a few too many. I'll take them all out of the storage area and dump them on the floor, sort through them making two piles, and discard any that might have even the smallest hole. I keep one pile while the other is taken to the floor where the mail room is. You'd not believe how fast some of these bags are scarfed up.

 

[Jsneaker]

I use Mesh

Like Joeekaitis, if I get plastic bags, I just knot them when the get to the trunk.
I use extra-durable mesh "Giant Market" shopping bags I bought from the stores in Leesburg, VA & Bear, DE back in 1993. They are THE BEST, and very strong for groceries and for Costo, BJ's, Trader Joe's & Aldi! Besides, the proceeds went for a blindness association, so they sure were a fantastic investment. When I go to ShopRite and Target, I get 5c credit for each bag I use. Some other local markets only give 2c, like PathMark & Waldbaums(where I hardly ever shop). King Kullen gives no refund, and they don't require a "shopper's card/tag" for purchases, but they & "Sit & Shit"(no refund) are the four highest-priced markets here! The plastic ones I get are used for lining all my garbage pails at my place.