‘Paper or Plastic’ Redux

This time it is about the original use of the phrase, at the grocery store.

I’m old enough to remember when only paper bags were on offer. Some came with paper handles to make carrying them easier, but the handles had a very limited weight capacity and could break easily, scattering the goods all over the parking lot. And heaven help you if you had to carry the bags in the rain for any length of time.

My late mother in law told a delightful story of bringing groceries home when she and her husband were young and nearly broke. He was playing minor league baseball and they had no car, so one day she was lugging the groceries home and got caught in a downpour. The paper bags fell apart and she had to get on her knees to chase the potatoes rolling around on the sidewalk.

Somebody came up with the idea of plastic bags. Lighter, stronger, and water proof. And since trees had to die to produce the paper, at first we were told they were more planet friendly. The plastic bags were ‘single use’, but when we got them home we found multiple uses after they were unloaded.

Then we were told that the bags had a decomposition 1/2 life of something like 1,000 years, and they were clogging up landfills. What was an environmentally concerned consumer to do? The stores responded by offering both types and asking that question, leaving each shopper to wrestle with her own conscience.

This being California, our state is in such great fiscal shape that the legislature is looking for something to do. As of January 1 we have an official State Snake (the giant garter snake (Thamnophis gigas)) and an official State Shrub (the bigberry manzanita (Arctostaphylos glauca)). And this…

“Paper or plastic?” will no longer be a question in California grocery stores and convenience stores. Starting in January, the stores will no longer be allowed to offer plastic bags to customers because of a new state law. This new law bans an exception in a previous law that allowed the sale of thicker plastic bags that can be reused.

Actually single use plastic bags were verboten in our state a while back. Stores could offer paper, or thicker, reusable plastic bags. And they charged for both types. The fee was mandated to encourage consumers to bring their own reusable planet friendly totes.

Irony of ironies: when Covid came stores were forbidden to let consumers bring their own bags. I remember going to Costco, wearing a mask or course, and bringing my large tote. An employee was at the door, also masked, checking Costco cards and turning back all bags. I wasn’t aware of the ban and had to return to my car with my dangerous carryall, shaking my head at the pandemic panic and marveling at how sheeplike we had become. Never forget…

In France we bring our own cloth shopping bags, since none are provided for free. You can purchase some very nice totes at the Super U checkout counter for about 2 euros. And something similar is going on in the U.S.

The Trader Joe’s tote, which sells for $2.99 in the U.S., has joined the ranks of geographically specific status bags like those from London’s Daunt Books or Paris’s Shakespeare and Company. In addition to London, they’re being carried in Seoul, Melbourne, Australia, and Tokyo. Because there are no Trader Joe’s stores abroad, the bags are listed on resale platforms like Depop, eBay and Korea’s Karrot market for up to $10,000—with some eBay listings reaching $50,000.

A $10,000 tote bag has to say something about human psychology, but it is above this blogger’s pay grade.