Washington trying again to ban plastic bags

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Super S
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Re: Washington trying again to ban plastic bags

Post by Super S »

The governor has signed the bill:

https://www.theolympian.com/news/state/ ... 14526.html

Interesting timing given the Coronavirus outbreak.
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Re: Washington trying again to ban plastic bags

Post by storewanderer »

Well, the environmental groups that fought so hard for these bans are coming out saying the bags are no dirtier than your clothes or the items you touch when you shop. So using Coronavirus as a reason to not go forward with a plastic bag ban is silly and not relevant.

Meanwhile numerous cities in WA have actually suspended or are discussing suspending the plastic bag bans during Coronavirus. So far Bainbridge Island, Kent, Edmonds, Olympia, Burien, and others, are suspending bag bans/fees temporarily during Coronavirus.

I think it is a legitimate concern. All you have to do is look at the bags people use and you will see how dirty many of these bags are, and how they are stored (on the bottom of the car just like their shoes which are absolutely filthy). Cashiers should not be handling these bags, they are putting up with enough germs and while it is necessary for cashiers to handle cash it is not necessary for them to handle these reusable bags. Reusable bags also add more time to the customer standing up there at the cashier and other customers standing idle in line as they are less efficient than the old single use bags which were designed to make the checkout process efficient. At this point people need to get in and out of the store as quickly as possible to minimize contact. Frankly, this should be a relevant concern every flu season, but is especially relevant now with this virus.

The hard core people who fight for these bag bans say their bags are clean and they wash them after every shopping trip. Okay, that is good. Those people are in the minority. I sure see a lot of filthy bags out there. Many of these reusables are not even designed to be washed easily; the classic canvas ones you can put into a washing machine. Some of the others you are supposed to "wipe off with soap and water" but cannot put into a washing machine.

I expect going forward at least in the short term it will be much more difficult for plastic bag bans to get passed. Long term it will still happen I suspect, once everyone forgets about the Coronavirus. However long that takes.
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Re: Washington trying again to ban plastic bags

Post by veteran+ »

Perhaps ALL plastic bags should be biodegradable, PERIOD!

And perhaps ALL reusable bags should be MACHINE washable, PERIOD!

Let's also prohibit any type of bags made from fallen trees!

Just sayin..................

And STOP charging customers for plastic bags!
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Re: Washington trying again to ban plastic bags

Post by arizonaguy »

veteran+ wrote: March 27th, 2020, 8:22 am Perhaps ALL plastic bags should be biodegradable, PERIOD!

And perhaps ALL reusable bags should be MACHINE washable, PERIOD!

Let's also prohibit any type of bags made from fallen trees!

Just sayin..................

And STOP charging customers for plastic bags!
The charge is simply regressive taxation that impacts the lower classes the most.
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Re: Washington trying again to ban plastic bags

Post by ClownLoach »

arizonaguy wrote: March 27th, 2020, 10:23 am
veteran+ wrote: March 27th, 2020, 8:22 am Perhaps ALL plastic bags should be biodegradable, PERIOD!

And perhaps ALL reusable bags should be MACHINE washable, PERIOD!

Let's also prohibit any type of bags made from fallen trees!

Just sayin..................

And STOP charging customers for plastic bags!
The charge is simply regressive taxation that impacts the lower classes the most.
No, it's extra profit for the grocers. In California they fought tooth and nail to stop the plastic bag ban, with the big three chains making outlandish statements that they would lose sales, stores would close etc. Over bags. Once they got the legislature to agree that they would receive all the money from the bag charges - suddenly they were donating millions to ensure the ballot initiative passed to set up the bag fees. The millions they spent were the equivalent of clipping coupons - guaranteed tens of millions in additional profit.
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Re: Washington trying again to ban plastic bags

Post by storewanderer »

veteran+ wrote: March 27th, 2020, 8:22 am Perhaps ALL plastic bags should be biodegradable, PERIOD!

And perhaps ALL reusable bags should be MACHINE washable, PERIOD!

Let's also prohibit any type of bags made from fallen trees!

Just sayin..................

And STOP charging customers for plastic bags!
Yes, you would think they could just make the bags biodegradable. That came up in the WA ban- even if a bag is biodegradable it will have a ban or fee, I forget which.

I think under the current CA rules a biodegradable bag may actually be allowed (and not subject to a fee)- gray area since I don't think the current CA rules even address it.

Paper bag is also a big waste in resources. Much of the oil by-product used to make plastic bags, has no other use, than to make the bags. If not making the bags that oil by-product just ends up disposed of.

Bag fee is generally a joke anyway, often times it is not charged. I end up paying for more bags because I am using self checkouts... When I go to an actual staffed checkout, I am charged about 2 out of 10 times.
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Re: Washington trying again to ban plastic bags

Post by storewanderer »

This is now delayed until "at least" 2022. Good.

https://www.kpq.com/inslee-delaying-pla ... -pandemic/
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Re: Washington trying again to ban plastic bags

Post by Super S »

storewanderer wrote: December 18th, 2020, 6:16 pm This is now delayed until "at least" 2022. Good.

https://www.kpq.com/inslee-delaying-pla ... -pandemic/
I don't want to sound political in any way, but will say that it was a stupid move by the Governor to sign this into law as the pandemic was taking off. I hope this gets delayed indefinitely.
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Re: Washington trying again to ban plastic bags

Post by storewanderer »

Super S wrote: December 18th, 2020, 9:46 pm
storewanderer wrote: December 18th, 2020, 6:16 pm This is now delayed until "at least" 2022. Good.

https://www.kpq.com/inslee-delaying-pla ... -pandemic/
I don't want to sound political in any way, but will say that it was a stupid move by the Governor to sign this into law as the pandemic was taking off. I hope this gets delayed indefinitely.
I was surprised this was signed into law when it was. Delaying it to 2022 as has happened now would have been similar to what would have happened had it not been signed into law in 2020 to go into effect in 2021 as it was. I am sure it would have been proposed again in 2021 to go into effect in 2022 anyway.

Whether or not it goes into effect in 2022- we will see.

This does not change the overall law which I think collects an 8 cent bag fee in the initial years then a 12 cent bag fee in later years. So now there will be fewer years of 8 cent bag fee.

For the stores that 8 cent bag fee does not cover the cost of the super thick plastic bag or the paper bag- cost is 10-18 cents on those bags (cost keeps going up on the "regulation approved" bags and there are limited providers of them in the US, so more and more "regulation approved" bags are being imported from China, Germany, France, Thailand as well). The thin bags continue to have a cost between 1-2 cents. Cost on those has been falling due to less demand, more competition, and the prolonged period of low oil prices.
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Re: Washington trying again to ban plastic bags

Post by storewanderer »

Well, this article says it is delayed until 2022:
https://www.kpq.com/inslee-delaying-pla ... -pandemic/

But the actual document says the delay is only until January 31, 2021.
https://www.governor.wa.gov/sites/defau ... ovdelivery

The governor I think can only delay the law for a month without legislative action. I'm not sure where the first article got 2022 from... maybe he can just delay it every month for a year.
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