New Bag Law

Our Governor expressed his unhappiness with the litter he sees on the streets as he travels between his home and the state capital most days and attends public events around the state.  Cleaning it up, while less urgent than setting state policy for Covid damage control, has become a personal quest. He has to be diplomatic. It would not go well if he identified litter as a demarcation point that announced leaving one neighborhood and entering another or counted McDonalds wrappers along a main thoroughfare and compared the count publicly to one taken from a McDonalds parking lot in a part of his state serving a more limited, economically distressed segment of the citizens. But plastic grocery bags make an easier target.

We all have them. We all let them accumulate, either in our homes, landfills, back seat of cars, waterways, or sidewalks.  We all find them convenient when shopping. Merchants have found them economical and even useful when they carry their stores' logos.  Moreover, other states or municipalities have already restricted their use with some means of assessing outcome.  My state enacted legislation that took effect last week.  My first major shopping expedition just occurred.

Ironically, before Covid I was already using reusable grocery bags.  Then for reasons of infection control, Trader Joe's banned them and Shop-Rite disallowed their checkers from filling them. So it was back to plastic at SR and paper at TJ.  As the new law's start date approached, I found a few flimsy canvas type totes but not the ones with SR or TJ logos that better support the purpose.  My first few shopping errands did not tax my supply but then a mega purchase from SR did.

At the checkout line they sold reusable grocery bags so I purchased two. They also offer plastic bags, heavier than those that are now disallowed and reusable for 10 cents each.  The cashier seemed sensitive to the added expense for the customers.  He judged me among the sturdier customers despite my advancing years, cramming as much as he could fit into the two newly purchased reusable sacks.  It took two arms to lift each from the checkout into my cart and later from the cart into the trunk.  I still had overflow, supplied with two of the 10 cent bags that I could handle easily.

Getting them into the house took some effort.  Carrying one at a time, I lifted with both arms successfully, not having to drag either along the asphalt driveway, concrete walk, or tiled entryway. Presumably the cashiers have been trained to not overload frail appearing customers or at least move the heavy stuff into the carts and escort them to their cars to assist with transfer to their trunks.  At home they are on their own, but like have leftover old plastic bags not yet recycled to take out to the cars and transfer from the overloaded reusable totes.