especially if the tax raised went to local green projects.  We use our bike buckets when we bike down for groceries and there are usually canvas bags in the vehicles in case we are shopping by auto. 

It's pretty easy to accumulate a reasonable supply of bags for the car at Value Village and Goodwill, not sure that we need a non-profit foundation to provide bags.  Also not worried about the cost to someone buying 15 bags of groceries.  Just means you need 15 canvas bags in the trunk or you pay the tax and fund green projects.  

There are places in the ociean now where there are six times more plastic per liter than plankton. Let's slow down the rate of damage at least.

Me as a retailer am excited about this as well.

Not just from an environmental point of view but an economical as well. Bags are really expensive to buy.

We just had this conversation last night at our First Friday event with Genine from Kirsop Farm and Jenny and Larry who are working with the Coop on their "bag problem".

The ODA is working on a project for downtown businesses too.

What we started at einmaleins is a raffle that people can put their name in, if they choose not to take a bag. Last month we had a 50% drop on bags used in our store because of that.

So, let's take the few people that haven't figured it out yet by their hands and lead them to the promised place.

If we find a way if spinning it in a positive light - and I think the idea of using the tax to sponsor Green Projects around the city, is just that, than we would be able to really make a difference in this world, and in the city!!

mathias

einmaleins 

It will be an interesting transition.  I would like to see some effort made to clean up that mess in the ocean as well. 

I've got a great set of pictures of the countryside in Kuwait. The entire goddamned highway is littered with blue plastic grocery bags. The fencelines on either side of the road are covered, at least two feet high with them. I wrote in my journel, while I was there, that if they ever run out of oil, their next GNP should be blue plastic grocery bags. It's disgusting to look it.

The Mrs. just dropped off a boatload of plastic bags at Safeway. Even though we use canvas bags in addition to recycling, we save them all for dog doo-doo in the yard. Whatever is left over is taken back to Safeway.

I think the tax is a little ridiculous myself.  

"Rice is great if you're really hungry and want to eat two thousand of something." - Mitch Hedberg

for the man to shove another tax down our throat and force people to do something they may not be able to afford.

We're a family of 4 with a daughter with a terminal disease that requires high calorie, high fat intake.  I have to buy 30 boxes of precooked bacon every 2 weeks, high fat snacks, etc.  I wish I could walk out of Walmart with only 15 bags!  And before you bash me for shopping at Walmart, it's the only place I can afford to shop anymore and I still end up spending upwards of $400.00 a week on groceries.

I can't imagine how many canvas bags I'd need to get everything home and I can't imagine having to pay more money to buy basic needs to survive.  I can't imagine forcing homeless, elderly and those with health needs to pay for a way to get basic food needs.

I know Greg Nickel's personally and when I heard this early last week I was floored he'd even support something like this.  It's ridiculous.

"A point of view is only a view from a point..." ~ Unknown

I agree with enpen that plastic bags can be reused and that there are alternatives for picking up dog crap. A tax may not be the best idea, but plastic bags are an environmental disaster and the stores aren't doing much to encourage people to bring their own bags.  

I have 8 canvas/cloth bags and each holds at least twice as much as a plastic bag.  Most didn't cost much and a couple were given to me when I spent a certain amount of money at a store.  I gave reusable bags to family members for the holidays this year because I think it's important for people to make this shift.

Olympia when businesses are struggling or leaving. Lets see, I have to pay a tax for a bag in Oly, but I can go to Tumwater or Lacey and not pay a tax. Big help for Olympia businesses.

"...terrorists portray themselves quite successfully among Muslims as the exponents of true and pure Islam...(Robert B Spencer, author)

itchyhitch.blogspot.com

I'll chime in on this one. At the co-op, we bag our own groceries. I've noticed I seem to put about 6 times as much in one bag as clerks do at many stores. I opt for paper, and the co-op accepts used grocery bags back into circulation.(As well as egg cartons, clean glass and plastic containers, etc.)I always use the used bags or the cardboard boxes that they provide leftover from their deliveries. Sometimes they are heavy from me cramming as much as I can in, but they don't break. If I really need to I double bag, but mostly those paper bags are more sturdy than you'd think. I also use the paper trash bags as trash can liners.

If you don't put food waste in your garbage, recycled and biodegradable paper works fine. We also produce only a few bags of trash per week. However, we haven't been composting these days, and we create almost double as much waste now as we did when we were composting.

Any bags or egg cartons that we don't reuse at home, we bring back to the co-op.

If I am only buying a sandwich, or even just a small amount of groceries, I carry them. For this purpose I have a canvas bag as my purse. Other uses for this bag: reusable water bottle, bringing food to work in reusable tupperware, carrying other small purchases like packing tape or chapstick or whatever.

I have also had that moment so many times with a clerk: "Oh- no bag for the chapstick."(are they serious?) Or "No bag for the cat food please." (the one its already in works fine.)

And they always look at me like I'm some crazy martyr and say, "ARE you SURE, ma'm?"You'd think carrying a carton of ice cream to the car in my hand was a dangerous act or something.(BTW I very much recommend this for ice cream runs, as by the time you get home, the bagless ice cream is tempered and you don't have to go through that horrible 10 minutes of waiting for it to be soft enough to serve.) 

Also, let's not make this about family size, guys. I don't know if you have really thought about this, but a household of five or six people is actually easier on the environment per capita than a single person. Even a relative gas-guzzler -type-vehicle for a group this size is generally far easier on the environment than a smaller car for one. Not to mention the packaging they save by sharing food, cooking together, etc. (As long as they don't subscribe to that philosophy some people have that kids require everything they eat to be individually packaged at all times.) Also, even if they buy 10 bags of groceries per week, they probably do it in one run, not ten, the way a lot of single people do. 

Large families often get blamed in conversations about sustainability, when actually, living by yourself is one of the least sustainable environmental choices you can make.  In cities there is this movement to rip out all the older 2/3/4 br apartments and divy up big old houses into individual units. It is a good way for landlords to turn a better profit. This leaves families gentrified out  of central urban areas. (Note hip places like Capital Hill's disturbing lack of children. If you end up with two or more, you might have to move.)

Green city planners should be doing the exact opposite. They should encourage larger households. Boarding houses and co-op houses are good for the environment, easier on people's finances, and in my opinion, a healthier way to live period. These spaces are flexible to allow for the variety of modern households. Not only the traditional large family, but households of students, single parents choosing to cohabitate with others, blended families with several batches of kids, folks who want to welcome extended family and friends into their household, foster families, etc. These family arrangements are healthier for society than solitary life in so many ways.

We need to be careful not to be misled by propaganda, no matter how subtle. It is often directly stated or subtly implied that our environemental concerns are caused by overpopulation, which as we all know is primarily a "problem" caused by the poorest in our world. But if you look at the facts, it is in fact affluence that primarily creates environmental problems. We need to stop living lives of overconsumption, materialism, and isolation as these lives are costly to the environment. The more money someone has, the greater their ecological footprint usually is. Whether or how many children they have is so much less of a factor.

Food for thought.

Jade

I agree with S6, if you need something around your place, we probably could get a work party together to give you a hand.

As to the bio bags not being much use since they don't break down in the landfill, I won't waste my money. I will just continue to use plastic in a more conserving mode.

"...terrorists portray themselves quite successfully among Muslims as the exponents of true and pure Islam...(Robert B Spencer, author)

itchyhitch.blogspot.com

Plastic carry out bags are just one piece of the bag discussion.  We've also got dount/bagel bags, plastic produce bags, bulk food bags, butcher wrap, cold-cut ziplocs, wine and beer bags, etc.

Reusable bags are a good consumer choice.  The right choice.  Now we need the stores to make the same efforts internally.