I first encountered a fee for grocery bag in the Netherlands well over 20 years ago. Since then I've been gradually working toward not using store bags whenever possible. If you go to enough conferences/fairs/events you can easily accumulate a supply of good quality reusables for free.
On those times when I forget my reusables and end up with grocery store bags, they go straight into the bag for bag recycling because they're now so thin and flimsy that most of them have holes in them by the time we get the groceries unpacked. Wouldn't dare put kitty litter in them! Those bags would likely split and spill unmentionable stuff across the rug on the way to the garbage can. Kitty litter goes into a covered trash can lined with a heavy duty trash bag that can hold several days' worth plus extra trash without splitting.
One of the most useful reusable bags that I have is a lightweight nylon one that folds up very small. I often put it in a pocket when I'm going out and not sure if I'll be doing any shopping. I have an extra one of those I keep in the pocket of my rollaboard now so it's handy when I'm traveling.
Originally Posted by
kilbornr
There are two environmental issues going on:
1) The energy used to make the bag
2) The trash impact of having the bag end up outside the normal waste stream (i.e. in rivers and oceans)
Plastic bag bans are actually a negative for #1 since the thin bags are far more energy and resource efficient than alternatives (even reusables which often required 10x to 100x more energy than a thin bag)
I'd like to see the actual numbers on that. Does your theory take into account that the thin bags are so thin, so flimsy, that baggers usually double and sometimes triple bag groceries with them?