And in Alabama, when the city of Birmingham banned plastic bags, the state turned around and made a law that banning plastic bags was not allowed 🤦♀️
this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2025
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A 2020 law banning plastic bags in Vermont has nearly eliminated their use in the state
(www.burlingtonfreepress.com)
"Alabama: Boldly refusing to accept diversity and the inevitable since 1819."
- John Oliver
(I wonder how bad the brain drain is at this point)
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(2 replies)
The right, "We hate gov control of local govs unless we like it."
I'm starting to think Vermont is pretty awesome
I just wish more places put handles on the paper bags.
I don't mind a paper bag, but I hate having to, like, roll the top to carry it. Just give me some handles. Even a reinforced hole cut in the bag. Anything.
Would it be feasible to bring your own bags? I picked up a cheap 10 pack of fabric bags and they are sturdy enough I can usually fit a week's worth of groceries in two or three of them
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As someone who frequently shops on their bike, lack of handles on paper bags can be the difference between me being able to bring things home or not. I can hang a plastic bag off of the handle bars or over my shoulder if I need to. A paper bag without handles is going to leave me pretty screwed if I don't currently have panniers with me.
Rack and some bungee used to be my way to do it.
Hated it every time.
Reusable bags. Bonus that you can find something that checks all your boxes and its all yours. Paper bags should be last resort and they should charge 10c to discourage their use.
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I have never in my life found a paper bag with handles that will hold groceries. I'd need easily twice as many to hold all my groceries vs my reusable ones.
Have you ever shopped at a Trader Joes? Those paper bags are by far the best paper bags that I've ever used, and can carry about as much as my reusable ones.
I assume handles cost more money to produce. But yes, bags without handles are useless if you’re shopping for the week.
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New York City has also banned plastic bags since 2020. I was skeptical about the ban at first, because by measure of material weight, bags are but a small fraction of plastic waste. Thin film is just too efficient in terms of use-per-weight ratio. I also thought anyone who didn't want to use plastic bags already had the option to bring their own reusable bags with them.
My newfound appreciation for the ban is that not only does it divert the use of plastic material, but it forces a change in the public perception around plastic use itself. Sure, you could bring your own bags, but it felt awkward because no one else did. You felt like you were inconveniencing the cashiers and other shoppers by breaking the routine, as if you were asking for special treatment. But now it's perfectly normal! You want to carry that bag of potatoes in your arms without an external bag? Go right ahead. You want to run home carrying a jug of milk dripping condensation on the pavement? Doesn't make you look like a crazy person! All thanks to the ban. Single action by the government on behalf of the collective has achieved what collective action by many single individuals could not have.
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Meanwhile our plastic bag tax has pretty much eliminated paper bags and raked in fortunes in profits on plastic bags.
Yeah, that’s why plastic shouldn’t be an option. Paper bag tax for last resort only in my opinion.
I mean, yeah, that's how bans work.
The news is that it did in fact work. You may think it's very clever to point out the obvious effect, but stupid people (republicans) need to hear over and over again that these programs have a positive effect and aren't just intended to impinge on their freedumbs.
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No more free bags for lining small trash cans, hiking trash and for the car
I'm in one of these bagless wastelands. We use bags from the groceries themselves. Many of the products we buy are also in some form of closeable plastic and just get put into a second piece of plastic for the short trip home.
Yay more paper bags for my compost however
I don’t live in Norway but where I live in the US plastic bags have been illegal for years
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Good on you Vermont, proud of you
But but but I was told that it would result in a plastic bag gray market or something.
In Norway we made the plastic bags really expensive (about half an Euro atm) and it's working wonders. I still have a stash of them, but they're for special emergencies. The stores sell actual trash bags that's much smaller and thinner, and thus more convenient (for me at least) so that problem is taken care of as well.
I keep 4 reusable fabric bags around as well, two for shopping, 1 for glass and 1 for recyclable bottles.
I find that I much prefer this system. And I still have the option to pay 5kr for a plastic bag at store if I have to.
5kr for a bag is juuust enough for me to get my reusable bag at home if I want to make spontaneous trip to the store on my way home.
NJ got rid of them a few years back. My trashcans have had the sane liners since then.
For trash I'm still using plastic bags I hoarded in anticipation of our ban in NYC 5 years ago.
We had laws put up in Toronto. All it did was let corporations make more money off us. The bag fee was not ever required to be given to the city, the stores just kept it. And now instead of getting a plastic bag at the store, i get yet another reusable bag that is worse than. 100 bags and I’ll never use that many times
Bruh what are you talking about? The reusable bags you get from chains here (Shoppers, Canadian Tire, etc) are fantastic quality "cheap" bags. Canadian Tires's are massive
Don't get me started on IKEA bags, those cost like a dollar and are absolute top notch (especially now that they have the pride ones)
On scroll by, the bags in the picture look like people in a convertible.
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