California Single Use Bag Ban

[storewanderer]

I think the food drippings issue is a problem since some of the stores I visited in SoCal last year were running announcements over their piped in music reminding customers to "wash their reusable bags regularly."

I would think if you are careful, do not overfill bags, use produce bags to put potential problem items and in some cases double them up (wait, that is using plastic again which we aren't supposed to be doing...), then the food leaking issue should be a non-issue.

Sort of the same way some customers will take a bloody package of beef or a juicy package of chicken out of their cart at checkout that leaks all over the checkout counter/belt... those same people will throw that package into their reusable bag. That is the problem.

[submariner]

Sort of the same way some customers will take a bloody package of beef or a juicy package of chicken out of their cart at checkout that leaks all over the checkout counter/belt... those same people will throw that package into their reusable bag. That is the problem.

True. I always wrap my meat when I'm at the grocery store.

[pseudo3d]

From what I've seen working as a bagger in a grocery store is that most people do not wash reusable bags, and tossed filthy bags toward my end, often with cigarette smoke and other unidentifiable smells. A study of about five years ago revealed that 75% of people do not separate meats and vegetables, and a full 97% do not wash reusable bags (source), yet washing can reduce 99.9% of bacteria.

As for Safeway's part in this, prior to Albertsons, Safeway wanted to get rid of plastic bags altogether, which would've adversely affected their Texas divisions (a moot point since they wouldn't have lasted long otherwise). Makes me wonder how much influence Safeway has even after being purchased, I'd blame that for a majority of the problems Albertsons has these days.

[J-Man]

That's why I like my canvas bags from Fresh & Easy

Fresh & Easy also sold 20-cent reusable plastic bags that they promised to replace at no charge "forever" if they were torn or damaged. Guess that didn't work out too well.

[rwsandiego]

From what I've seen working as a bagger in a grocery store is that most people do not wash reusable bags, and tossed filthy bags toward my end, often with cigarette smoke and other unidentifiable smells. A study of about five years ago revealed that 75% of people do not separate meats and vegetables, and a full 97% do not wash reusable bags ...

My guess is the people who bring in dirty and smelly bags probably do not handle the food safely once it arrives home. The reusable bag is likely to be the least of their food safety worries.

That's why I like my canvas bags from Fresh & Easy

Fresh & Easy also sold 20-cent reusable plastic bags that they promised to replace at no charge "forever" if they were torn or damaged. Guess that didn't work out too well.

Treasure Island, a gourmet/traditional grocer in Chicago, has issued free sturdy plastic shopping bags with every order for years. Some customers don't re-use them but many do. I still have one at home somewhere 16 years after moving from Chicago.

[jamcool]

I suspect it takes less energy to make one plastic or paper bag than to wash and sterilize the reusable bag....the massive amounts of water that has to be heated to sanitize, and the toxic chemicals (like chlorine bleach and detergents) used to clean the bag.

[pseudo3d]

From what I've seen working as a bagger in a grocery store is that most people do not wash reusable bags, and tossed filthy bags toward my end, often with cigarette smoke and other unidentifiable smells. A study of about five years ago revealed that 75% of people do not separate meats and vegetables, and a full 97% do not wash reusable bags ...

My guess is the people who bring in dirty and smelly bags probably do not handle the food safely once it arrives home. The reusable bag is likely to be the least of their food safety worries.

Maybe the "dirty and smelly" people are the worse, but the high numbers are extremely troublesome, and it leads one to wonder about the type who use reusable bags in the first place. It's certainly enough to provide a compelling argument against single use bag bans.

[HelloOutThere]

I was in Manhattan Beach Target yesterday and they have begun charging 10 cents for paper bags there.

A good example of effects of the plastic bag ban going into effect overnight could be seen at the El Segundo Ralphs, which was recently remodeled into a Fresh Fare. The day the bag ban started, lines were very, very long when lines had previously always been very short there. Self-check was backed up like 10 people deep, where before it would rarely be more than 1 or 2 people waiting for self-check maximum.

Before, people at self-check could scan and bag in one motion, but now they must scan their items, then purchase a bag(s) from the one lone attendant at self-check, then bag their groceries, then leave, which has essentially doubled the amount of time it takes people to get through self-check. It appears that this store has addressed the lines by opening more full-service checkstands, which seems expensive.

I've been in stores with self-checks that charged for bags before (Weho Pavilions comes to mind), and it didn't seem to be as bad as El Segundo Ralphs. Perhaps part of it is that the employees at El Segundo were not used to the process, nor were regular customers. Also perhaps customers become trained to take only very small loads through self-check that they can carry out without bags, to avoid dealing with the whole "buy bags from the attendant" song and dance.

Personally I do think reusable bags are unsanitary and it seems like I always have to "help" bag my groceries when I bring my own bags to speed things up, so it's a downmarket experience. Plus it's weird when people bring in paper bags from other stores to re-use, like a Whole Food or Target bag in a Vons. Just seems weird and...diorderly somehow.

[J-Man]

I haven't been to a Trader Joe's since the ban took effect -- they used to use only paper bags (never plastic) for which they did not charge-- are they now required to charge for them?

[submariner]

I haven't been to a Trader Joe's since the ban took effect -- they used to use only paper bags (never plastic) for which they did not charge-- are they now required to charge for them?

According to the law, it would appear so.