Should Bristol Ban Plastic Bags?
A Bristol town councilor recently proposed following Barrington's lead in banning plastic bags at stores.
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Bristol appears to be the next community considering a ban on plastic bags in stores, EcoRInews.com reported this week.
The website quoted Town Councilor Timothy Sweeney as saying that Bristol should consider following Barrington's lead in imposing a prohibition on single-use plastic bags in markets and other shops, which went into effect on Jan. 1.
Sweeney proposed the idea at the council's Jan. 23 meeting, citing the potential dangers to fish and other marine life, the website noted.
What do you think?
Should Bristol ban plastic bags in stores? Would you be more likely to buy a reusable shopping bag — or do you use them already?
And do you think banning plastic bags can really help the environment — or is it more of a symbolic gesture?
Have your say in the comments below.
Jack Baillargeron
3:48 pm on Tuesday, January 29, 2013
No!!!
Lorraine F
5:34 pm on Tuesday, January 29, 2013
I have given up on the replacement paper bags that Shaw's and other stores provide.
The plastic bags have strong handles capable of carrying three large bottles of water (yes, I recycle the plastic bottles).
The paper replacement bags Shaws is using with those little glued on handles (using paper mache paste) fail all the time, usually as I'm trying to get through the outside door into the house.
My recommendation to non-Barringtonites - shop once at Shaws and put a normal heavy load into a plastic bag, and the same heavy load into their paper bag.
OK, I can hear it now - why not use reusable bags? Well I do, because I now go to Sam's Club.
Bagman
11:29 pm on Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Thank goodness Staples in Barrington sells plastic bags. They just dont give them away anymore.
jackie cranwell
8:27 am on Wednesday, January 30, 2013
The recycle bags definitely work and many are avail free. No reason for not using. We need to train ourselves to take them into the stores. Jackie
Ron Cranwell
8:51 am on Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Yes ban them . People are too lazy to change. The average plastic bag is used for 15 mins but here for ever. Plastic is entering the food chain via our oceans. Do you want to eat plastic fish?
Buy a few nice cloth bags keep them in the car.
Nancy L. Richard
1:29 pm on Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Ron, you have the right idea ! We use canvas totes, which we keep in the car, and find it most convenient. We all have to sacrifice a little convenience for the sake of the planet. I hate seeing all those plastic bags on the side of the roads, not to mention the damage it does to wildlife.
Karinna
11:34 am on Wednesday, January 30, 2013
i already use reusable bags. the large ones they sell for .99 at tjmaxx/homegoods/marshalls. i love it. i make 1 or 2 trips from the car with these huge bags instead of dozens when i grocery shop. works for me!
Keith
8:18 am on Thursday, January 31, 2013
It's time to do what's right for our environment and single use plastic bags need to go. Like many things in life it's hard to break old habits and having to remember to bring your reusable cloth bags into the store with you will take a bit of effort to become "habit" but think of the benefits to our waters/watersheds which are loaded with plastic that doesn't breakdown and is ingested by fish and fowl alike. We need to do this and Bristol, like Barrington, needs to lead not follow!
Andy B
1:58 pm on Monday, February 11, 2013
San Francisco passed America's "first-in-the-nation" ban on plastic bags in chain grocery stores and drugstores in 2007. In a research paper for the Wharton School Institute for Law and Economics, law professors Jonathan Klick and Joshua Wright crunched state and federal data on emergency room admissions and food-borne-illness deaths and figured that the San Francisco ban "led to an increase in infections immediately upon implementation."
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/saunders/article/S-F-s-plastic-bag-ban-may-be-unhealthy-4264075.php#ixzz2KcO4rbW4