Coronavirus and Plastic Bag Bans

This is the place for general and miscellaneous posts on topics which might extend past the boundaries of any specific region. No non-grocery posts.
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storewanderer
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Re: Coronavirus and Plastic Bag Bans

Post by storewanderer »

Alpha8472 wrote: June 4th, 2020, 7:41 pm Safeway in Contra Costa County has started using thin Safeway branded plastic bags and they are free. It is the little things that remind me that things can return back to the good old times.
Safeway has a few of those bags hanging around the warehouse to send to the 7 Nevada Stores. Those white BPI Safeway bags are used in AZ and back in DC/WA/MD too so a few get sent into Tracy to send to NV. For some reason CO Safeway uses tan thin bags from a different supplier Hilex. They are just sending whatever bags they can get, a combination of generic thank you bags or the occasional branded Safeway bags until June 23 when the bag ban supposedly re-starts in CA.
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Re: Coronavirus and Plastic Bag Bans

Post by mbz321 »

storewanderer wrote: June 4th, 2020, 6:34 pm
mbz321 wrote: June 4th, 2020, 6:23 pm

This has always seemed to be low on the priority list, but certain people on here *cough* bring it up again and again ad nauseum.
Well, it is an ever changing subject in light of the current situation.

Sorry to those who want to use reusable bags and are now being told what to do and prohibited from bringing reusable bags into many stores/chains. Now they should know how the other 95% of customers felt who minded their own business and used the store provided thin bags, before being forced not to by a little group that wanted to control what type of bags people used. But that little controlling group somehow thought it was okay to replace the 3 gram thin bag with a 30 gram "reusable" super thick plastic bag and charge 10 cents for it. If it was about reducing plastic it would be keep thin 3 gram bag and charge a fee.
...and there we go :lol:
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Re: Coronavirus and Plastic Bag Bans

Post by TW-Upstate NY »

Noticed something interesting in a local Wal-Mart earlier this morning. The way the entrance is set up I somehow found myself walking in back of the registers in the front end and noticed the bagging carousels were not stocked very well. I did end up buying a few items (not my store of choice but they're the only place that has a lot of items these days so you do what you gotta do) and ended up checking out at the service desk. Each of the registers there were using a much thicker gauge plastic bag. It was a Wal-Mart branded bag and was touted as reusable. I don't know if they just ran short of the conventional thin bags and they're using these in a pinch or they're switching to the heavier ones. Was in two other stores today (Market 32 and Hannaford) and they're both still using plastic while Target has gone to paper with handles. June 15th. was supposed to be the last day of non-enforcement of the bag ban here in NYS but here we are three days after the fact and it's pretty much business as usual. Unless I missed it, haven't seen anything in the news about it.
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Re: Coronavirus and Plastic Bag Bans

Post by Alpha8472 »

You are lucky you even have plastic bags at Walmart. There is always a shortage of plastic bags. The supplies take a long time to order. The stores do not want to order too much because the super thick plastic bags take up so much space and are so heavy.

Enforcement of bag bans is a low priority. Who gets paid to enforce the bans? With governments running out of money, the last thing they want to do is spend money on enforcement people.

In Alameda County in California, technically the county bag ban is still in effect, but stores are no longer following it. Many do not charge for bags and give out thin plastic bags. The people who enforce these laws probably are on furlough or out of the job.
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Re: Coronavirus and Plastic Bag Bans

Post by storewanderer »

TW-Upstate NY wrote: June 18th, 2020, 9:21 am Noticed something interesting in a local Wal-Mart earlier this morning. The way the entrance is set up I somehow found myself walking in back of the registers in the front end and noticed the bagging carousels were not stocked very well. I did end up buying a few items (not my store of choice but they're the only place that has a lot of items these days so you do what you gotta do) and ended up checking out at the service desk. Each of the registers there were using a much thicker gauge plastic bag. It was a Wal-Mart branded bag and was touted as reusable. I don't know if they just ran short of the conventional thin bags and they're using these in a pinch or they're switching to the heavier ones. Was in two other stores today (Market 32 and Hannaford) and they're both still using plastic while Target has gone to paper with handles. June 15th. was supposed to be the last day of non-enforcement of the bag ban here in NYS but here we are three days after the fact and it's pretty much business as usual. Unless I missed it, haven't seen anything in the news about it.
Interesting. Those super thick plastic bags are the CA Compliant "reusable plastic bags."

The way I read the NY Ban, they cannot use those super thick plastic bags. Any plastic bag has to have a woven handle (the law was written that way explicitly so the stores could not use those super thick plastic bags). Not sure if something changed or what. Wal Mart does have paper bags in some stores (they have them here in NV if you ask, no charge).

The NY Ban is as of now not going to be enforced "indefinitely." And at this point Chief of NY Plastic Police 4885 has advised that his department will provide 30 days notice before enforcement of the bag ban takes place. Due to the lawsuit challenging the legality of the ban, at this point, they are stuck and 4885's department cannot enforce the ban until the lawsuit gets heard and thrown out.

However VT will be starting its ban in July.

The 60 day lift of the CA ban expires on Tuesday 6/23. So far no word from CA on if they will be extending the lift or what.

Most CA stores still ban reusable bags but some have started allowing if customers bag themselves. They aren't promoting that they allow reusable bags, but have removed the no reusable bags signage and will clarify their policy if asked. Some stores still turn away reusable bags and now with the mask rule at all CA stores there will be a clear gatekeeper at the doors to prohibit entry of reusable bags in stores where they are still prohibited. Much better to handle that issue at entry than at checkout time.
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Re: Coronavirus and Plastic Bag Bans

Post by CalItalian »

storewanderer wrote: June 18th, 2020, 11:51 pm
TW-Upstate NY wrote: June 18th, 2020, 9:21 am Noticed something interesting in a local Wal-Mart earlier this morning. The way the entrance is set up I somehow found myself walking in back of the registers in the front end and noticed the bagging carousels were not stocked very well. I did end up buying a few items (not my store of choice but they're the only place that has a lot of items these days so you do what you gotta do) and ended up checking out at the service desk. Each of the registers there were using a much thicker gauge plastic bag. It was a Wal-Mart branded bag and was touted as reusable. I don't know if they just ran short of the conventional thin bags and they're using these in a pinch or they're switching to the heavier ones. Was in two other stores today (Market 32 and Hannaford) and they're both still using plastic while Target has gone to paper with handles. June 15th. was supposed to be the last day of non-enforcement of the bag ban here in NYS but here we are three days after the fact and it's pretty much business as usual. Unless I missed it, haven't seen anything in the news about it.
Interesting. Those super thick plastic bags are the CA Compliant "reusable plastic bags."

The way I read the NY Ban, they cannot use those super thick plastic bags. Any plastic bag has to have a woven handle (the law was written that way explicitly so the stores could not use those super thick plastic bags). Not sure if something changed or what. Wal Mart does have paper bags in some stores (they have them here in NV if you ask, no charge).

The NY Ban is as of now not going to be enforced "indefinitely." And at this point Chief of NY Plastic Police 4885 has advised that his department will provide 30 days notice before enforcement of the bag ban takes place. Due to the lawsuit challenging the legality of the ban, at this point, they are stuck and 4885's department cannot enforce the ban until the lawsuit gets heard and thrown out.

However VT will be starting its ban in July.

The 60 day lift of the CA ban expires on Tuesday 6/23. So far no word from CA on if they will be extending the lift or what.

Most CA stores still ban reusable bags but some have started allowing if customers bag themselves. They aren't promoting that they allow reusable bags, but have removed the no reusable bags signage and will clarify their policy if asked. Some stores still turn away reusable bags and now with the mask rule at all CA stores there will be a clear gatekeeper at the doors to prohibit entry of reusable bags in stores where they are still prohibited. Much better to handle that issue at entry than at checkout time.
Stater Bros. posted on their Facebook that they will start charging 10 cents per bag on 6/27. You can also bring in your reusable bags which they will bag. From the SoCal Facebook coupon group I participate it, one poster mentioned Target started charging for bags on 6/24 and you can bring in your reusable bags (I am not sure if they'll bag your reusables but I am certain about Stater Bros). Another posted that 99 Cents Only started to charge for bags again on 6/24. In my experience, they were one of the few actively selling thicker bags the entire time and allowed you to use your reusable bags.
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Re: Coronavirus and Plastic Bag Bans

Post by Alpha8472 »

I noticed that many places in California are charging for bags again. Even the self checkouts at Walmart are charging for bags. The thick plastic bags are back again. Although a Grocery Outlet yesterday was giving out free thin plastic bags. They probably want to get rid of those. The enforcers probably are not willing to come out to the stores yet. Grocery Outlet flaunts all laws from expired food to illegally thin plastic bags.
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Re: Coronavirus and Plastic Bag Bans

Post by mbz321 »

Alpha8472 wrote: June 25th, 2020, 1:02 am Grocery Outlet flaunts all laws from expired food to illegally thin plastic bags.
Unless California has some unique law, there is nothing against selling 'expired' food (there is a law that applies to things like baby formula though). My Grocery Outlet in PA (yes, they have a weird offshoot cluster of stores in PA after they took over a smaller outlet chain in the later 2000's) is very good about dates, I have never seen anything past date. Usually they mark down stuff close to expiration to mere pennies to move it out..I've gotten some ridiculously good deals on things like cheese. And funny enough, their complementary plastic bags are much thicker than most of the stores in my area (I use my reusable bag though :P )
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Re: Coronavirus and Plastic Bag Bans

Post by Alpha8472 »

I just checked again. The packaged muffins say sell by this date. I guess it is not illegal. However, the entire store just seems so neglected and dirty. There were tons of employees walking around restocking, but looking at expiration dates is something they do not have time for. There were more employees than customers in the store.
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Re: Coronavirus and Plastic Bag Bans

Post by storewanderer »

Alpha8472 wrote: June 25th, 2020, 1:02 am I noticed that many places in California are charging for bags again. Even the self checkouts at Walmart are charging for bags. The thick plastic bags are back again. Although a Grocery Outlet yesterday was giving out free thin plastic bags. They probably want to get rid of those. The enforcers probably are not willing to come out to the stores yet. Grocery Outlet flaunts all laws from expired food to illegally thin plastic bags.
The bag ban went back into order on 6/23 in CA. There were a few groups who got really upset with the CA Governor about suspending it. Obviously the environmental groups who got the bag ban passed were very upset. But also the group who sells recycled plastic bag film was very upset. The issue was all those temporary thin bags used in CA were being made from virgin (0% recycled) plastic rather than recycled plastic. The CA "super thick" plastic bags must contain a minimum of 40% recycled content (which I guess must cost more than virgin plastic or is more difficult to acquire) so the market for that recycled plastic dried up when the bag ban got suspended and they stopped making the thick reusable plastic bags. Then the companies who import (since they all come from China) the actual (cloth, etc.) reusable bags were upset that this basically cut off their business (many stores pulled reusable bags from sale). Basically the plastic film recyclers and reusable bag importing companies were practically put out of business by the suspension of the bag ban and the main reason it was not suspended further was because of those groups.

Given the Coronavirus cases keep rising it seems a bit irresponsible to be promoting reusable bags again, but we will see what happens.

This CA law needs to be re-worked or completely thrown off the books entirely. The super thick "reusable" 24 gram 10 cent plastic bags are a joke. The thin 3 gram bags should be allowed with a fee if they want to control usage. Slap a requirement on the thin bags that they must contain that 40% recycled content. Target's thin bag has 40% recycled content and some plain white bag I got from some store said it had 10% recycled content, so it is possible to make the thin bags with recycled content. But most don't seem to be bothering. Also a thin produce bag that is green that I got at some store says it is 100% recycled content. So it is definitely possible.
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