It hit the grocery store fans on January 1. There is now a 5-cent fee on those little brown plastic bags, and many customers were caught off guard. Some though the grocery stores were simply gouging while others argued with store cashiers about the fairness of it all. A few remembered the county had so decreed nearly a year ago. And now customers must pay a nickel for every bag they stuff their groceries in.
Once customers use a permanent shopping bag even once, they’ll pay a nickel not to have to use those little bags.
I am not a tree hugger, but I have been using my own bags for several years. I can get $80 or $90 worth of groceries in 2 bags, and with the bread on top, nothing gets squashed. Plus, the bags stay upright, and you never have to chase cantaloupes and apples around the backseat of your car when they escape from the bags.
Many don’t use shopping bags because they forget them, but I keep a stack of them ion the floorboard of my car and when I go grocery shopping, I bring a couple along for the cart ride.
The next plastic bags that need to go are those black trash bags. They last forever in a landfill. A heavy-duty paper bag (pine trees are a renewable resource) is far more efficient. We’re getting there.