[llmcdaniel]

As of Jan. 1, 2020, Oregon banned all plastic bags from grocery stores. This sounds environmentally friendly, but there is a huge health hazard, too. The University of Arizona and Loma Linda University have both discovered unacceptable amounts of ecoli and salmonella bacteria in cloth and canvas bags used for bagging groceries. Meat juices tend to leak onto the material and can contaminate everything in your bag. Their suggestions are that you put the canvas and cloth bags thru your washing machine on hot water after every use. If you use the insulated bags to keep meat and ice cream cold until you get home, wipe the interior down with anti-bacterial wipes after every use. Please don’t be careless about this, as it appears plastic bags are on the way out nationwide.😉

[Velvet]

Seems like it’s going to be online delivery only instead of personal shopping. Seriously, who is going to do all that? Who has the time or the energy? (We are not just talking about retired people.) The grocery stores as we know them will go the way of the outdoor markets of long ago. Maybe that’s a good thing. Here’s to the future!

[NotFromAroundHere]

Originally Posted by Velvet

Seems like it’s going to be online delivery only instead of personal shopping. Seriously, who is going to do all that? Who has the time or the energy? (We are not just talking about retired people.) The grocery stores as we know them will go the way of the outdoor markets of long ago. Maybe that’s a good thing. Here’s to the future!

Exactly! Where am I ever going to find the time to throw something in the washing machine? Where's my weekly planner? I just don't know where I'm going to shoehorn this new and daunting task into my day.

[Jima64]

I'm sure that Oregons efforts to reduce plastic will have a profound effect on the amount of plastic tossed away. Most articles I read about this waste shows that it is almost always the asian countries that use the most and contaminate the oceans worst with tossing the bags in the garbage. But our leaders and educated friends will still try to save the world with our wallets.

[patfla06]

I don’t agree with no plastic bags.
It has been said before about the ecoli and lead found on those annoying cloth bags.

I always put meat in a clear plastic bag so not to worry about any problems. People can get sick from raw meat/juices.

I recycle those same plastic bags.

Why aren’t we given a choice?

[CFrance]

Originally Posted by NotFromAroundHere

Exactly! Where am I ever going to find the time to throw something in the washing machine? Where's my weekly planner? I just don't know where I'm going to shoehorn this new and daunting task into my day.

I said that about flossing.

[CFrance]

Originally Posted by patfla06

I don’t agree with no plastic bags.
It has been said before about the ecoli and lead found on those annoying cloth bags.

I always put meat in a clear plastic bag so not to worry about any problems. People can get sick from raw meat/juices.

I recycle those same plastic bags.

Why aren’t we given a choice?

Because those plastic bags--and those plastic water bottles, by the way--can only be recycled once, twice at the most. After that they end up in the land fill unless some enterprising company can figure out how to make benches or playground equipment out of them.


Don't kid yourself about recycling. It doesn't really work. Reducing and reusing is the way to go.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by llmcdaniel

As of Jan. 1, 2020, Oregon banned all plastic bags from grocery stores. This sounds environmentally friendly, but there is a huge health hazard, too. The University of Arizona and Loma Linda University have both discovered unacceptable amounts of ecoli and salmonella bacteria in cloth and canvas bags used for bagging groceries. Meat juices tend to leak onto the material and can contaminate everything in your bag. Their suggestions are that you put the canvas and cloth bags thru your washing machine on hot water after every use. If you use the insulated bags to keep meat and ice cream cold until you get home, wipe the interior down with anti-bacterial wipes after every use. Please don’t be careless about this, as it appears plastic bags are on the way out nationwide.😉

You can also buy heavy-duty plastic bags, that can be used for all the "wet" foods in your cloth bag. Insulated bags are also washable. I use an insulated bag, plus the heavy duty ones you can get at Aldi's for something like 25 cents, plus a couple of cloth bags. The cloth bags never have anything leaking in it as a result, and I don't have to wash them after each use.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by Jima64

I'm sure that Oregons efforts to reduce plastic will have a profound effect on the amount of plastic tossed away. Most articles I read about this waste shows that it is almost always the asian countries that use the most and contaminate the oceans worst with tossing the bags in the garbage. But our leaders and educated friends will still try to save the world with our wallets.

...and they've been throwing away the plastic that WE have been sending them, because WE don't have enough landfills or recycling programs to do the work ourselves. That's all ending now that China has rejected our garbage in the last year.

The plastic has to go SOMEWHERE. Unless and until we reduce its manufacture and find something productive to do with what we already have.

[JoMar]

Originally Posted by patfla06

I don’t agree with no plastic bags.
It has been said before about the ecoli and lead found on those annoying cloth bags.

I always put meat in a clear plastic bag so not to worry about any problems. People can get sick from raw meat/juices.

I recycle those same plastic bags.

Why aren’t we given a choice?

Because most take the path of least resistance or least work and effort.

[asianthree]

It’s a generational issue. Change does not come easy to many. In my parents time paper bags were used, along with cloth. We use cloth and coated bags for any shopping, as do our children and grands. So far nobody died from cloth bags For the last 90 years, in our family, but it could happen

[Obrienx4]

I has no idea, thanks for the info!!!

[pdfortin]

You are correct. The "reusable" type of bags are not as great a thing as people think. Yes, they will get contaminated and most people will not wash after every use. So, the risk of getting sick from something will go up. Why not biodegradable plastic bags or recycled paper bags for some applications.

[NotFromAroundHere]

Originally Posted by patfla06

I don’t agree with no plastic bags.
It has been said before about the ecoli and lead found on those annoying cloth bags.

I always put meat in a clear plastic bag so not to worry about any problems. People can get sick from raw meat/juices.

I recycle those same plastic bags.

Why aren’t we given a choice?

You are given a choice. As has been said before - You can use any kind of "bag" you want - Cloth, Plastic, Rubber, Wood, Steel, etc. The only difference is that you will have to supply it.

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by NotFromAroundHere

You are given a choice. As has been said before - You can use any kind of "bag" you want - Cloth, Plastic, Rubber, Wood, Steel, etc. The only difference is that you will have to supply it.

Actually, I called Publix on 466 and they had NO information in their office about plastic bags being stopped. (As posted earlier in this thread)

I am not a "greenie" but I think use of one use plastic is not good. Plastics don't "go away, they don't bio-degrade. I try to remember to grab the bags I have in the back of the van when I shop but I don't always.

What I don't understand is the sarcasm and acting superior attitude by some to get their point across.

You don't change anyone's mind by making them mad.