111 Responses to:
FRISCO IS RIGHT ABOUT PLASTIC BAGS

# 1. 3/29/07 12:41 AM
I find it easier to carry plastic bags myself. don't have to lift on bottom can lift on top through handles.

# 2. 3/29/07 12:49 AM by Dean
the only thing I find surprising is that it wasn't ordered by a judge.....

# 3. 3/29/07 2:23 AM by Ann - Henrietta
Hopefully that same sentiment will reach back to Rochester within the next 10 years.

I remember when Wegmans began switching from paper to plastic. The clerks were trained to ASK if we wanted paper or plastic. Then they stopped asking, and would give you plastic automatically, unless you spoke up and asked for paper.

Now when I ask for paper, I get this "oh crap" look from the clerk. Like I have just asked them to go cut me down a tree and make those bags themselves.

I'm sick of my plastic bags being stuffed with so much crap that they rip! I once asked a clerk to NOT put more than 2 half gallon jugs of milk into one plastic bag because the handles would rip.

Her reply was "Oh no it won't."

When did that little 17 year old girl ever have to carry a plastic bag with a bunch of milk cartons in it?

I miss my paper bags.

My cats miss the paper bags. I would toss them on the floor and watch them go psycho playing in them!

Can't unused paper bags go into the recycle bin?

# 4. 3/29/07 4:00 AM by Peter - Rochester
Getting rid of plastic bags would destroy my game. I refuse to make more than one trip to the trunk to remove my groceries. Weather its $30 or $130 in groceries I only make one trip. Using plastic bags allows me to carry up to 20 bags at a time. I can even run them up my arm if my hands can't carry anymore. Paper bags don't usually have handles, and they require making several trips to the car.

# 5. 3/29/07 5:50 AM by John - Rochester New York
I like the ones that Aldis use I have bags that are over a year old. Plus stores lieke Wegmans have recycle bins for them and you can put them in your blue box.

# 6. 3/29/07 6:20 AM by Mark from Greece
I would be interested to see what side of this issue Al Gore would support.

# 7. 3/29/07 6:28 AM
Algore has his servants do the grocery shopping. He would not be seen in a grocery store with "ordinary citizens".

# 8. 3/29/07 6:46 AM by Bill, who works with Pat and sits next to Tom - Rochester, NY
BRAVO Bob... I'm glad to see you're not a total right-wing wacko. Like I say in the store every time I shop... PAPER PLEASE.

# 9. 3/29/07 6:47 AM by Dave D - Oklahoma City
Bob,

Thanks for the trip down memory lane. We called 'em "pokes" in W/VA when I was young.

I use plastic, however, we line our small trash cans at home with them once the "groceries" are put away, then discard only non-metal items, and then we contribute to the ozone-depletion problem by burning the bag and the contents in our fireplace.

Algore would be appaled since we're contributing to global warming--and we've also apparently contributed to the planet Mars' global warming problem...

Paper bags round here (in OKC) can contain insect eggs or larva in the glue folded bottoms, so keeping them for re-use is not a good idea for us.

I do agree with the landscape issue. Why would anyone want to discard trash in the open, throw it from cars, or whatever. I'm reminded of the advertisement for a clean America with the Indian and his tear.

Keep at it. Love your columns.

# 10. 3/29/07 6:54 AM
For ten years I've been going to Wegmans with my motley collection of canvas and string bags.

What is the big deal? Why can't more people do this?

# 11. 3/29/07 6:55 AM
Plastic bags have been Sanjayafied.

i.e. kept around much longer than they should have been.

# 12. 3/29/07 6:56 AM
My Wegmans (Perinton) now has reusable bags at the checkout for just .99 cents each. Those are a MUCH better option, if you won't bring your own.

# 13. 3/29/07 7:10 AM by LB - Penfield, NY
Liberty applies to grocery stores too. Even if it's a good idea, it's not the local government's job to ban the plastic.

# 14. 3/29/07 7:12 AM by c - Rochester
Morning Bob. Hey those plastic bags are great for the little garbage cans that people use in the bathroom. They fit perfectly and are easy to tie up when full. Not to mention you see people walking their dogs carrying them to clean up after their dog. Don't get rid of the plastic bags, they are very useful. Plus, look at who is coming up with this--The Mayor of San Fransicko? Come on!!

# 15. 3/29/07 7:16 AM by Marie
The super market where I shop doesn't offer a choice. It's plastic.

# 16. 3/29/07 7:24 AM
The pepperoni roll was from West Virginia. The product they make up here doesn't compare, though I'm glad area shops are expanding it's appeal. Thank you. According to Jeanne Mozier in her indispensable guide book, Way Out in West Virginia, the pepperoni roll was invented by Giuseppe "Joseph" Argiro at the Country Club Bakery in Fairmont in 1927. One of the top pepperoni-roll makers in Fairmont today, is quite certain it wasn't invented until the 1940s, but no one disputes that they originated at the Country Club Bakery.

It was a practical lunch for Fairmont's miners, who needed food that was portable, sturdy and long-lasting. Argiro, a former miner, noticed many of his co-workers munching on a piece of pepperoni with a piece of bread. He began baking rolls with pepperoni slices inside.

He passed the recipe on to his son, Frank "Cheech" Argiro who owned the Country Club Bakery until 1997. Today the bakery is owned by Chris Pallotta.

Editor's Note: can't believe that west virginia has a thing to teach new york about italian stuff. no offense, gomer.

# 17. 3/29/07 7:27 AM
Remember when life was so simple? Full service gas stations, grocery boys who put everything in brown bags, the days when everybody used cash instead of credit cards, the neighborhood butcher, the milkman and diaper delivery guy, black and white tv, meals when everyone ate together, get togethers with your neighbors, gas prices, a non poluted lake ontario, when everyone took vacations, the times union, and the paperboy ringing your doorbell to collect your bill, etc. Life was so simple. Today real sucks in terms of what is used to be. Bob, the pools at Letchworth State Park still rock, that's one thing that hasn't changed.

# 18. 3/29/07 7:34 AM
If they can make a paper bag that carries like a plastic bag - I'll go for it. I'm like the guy above who refuses to make more than one trip to bring all the groceries in from the car. I want to get it done in one trip - paper bags cannot be carried like plastic.

I'm all for protecting the environment, but at this issue - I gotta balk.

# 19. 3/29/07 7:41 AM by Doug
The question is not paper or plastic it is government telling people what to do. Now we are down to the bags we get at the store what is next, what color shirt to wear on what day to be PC.

# 20. 3/29/07 7:45 AM by Mike R - Livonia, NY
Heeeeeeyyyyyy Bob,

And then San Fran will ban paper bags and everyone can go shop at Aldi's. Bring your own box.

At best, one can probably carry 2, maybe 3, paper bags from the car to the kitchen. That requires, at least for my family, 6 - 7 trips back and forth to the car, in the rain, in the snow, in 10 degree weather, in the winter. Maybe that's your idea of fun but I prefer my La-Z-Boy.

With plastic, I can loop one on each finger and be done in 2, maybe 3, trips tops. Haven't lost a jar of applesauce yet.

Recycleable? I've watched those guys from WM. Everything goes in the back - the bags out of the big can, the rinsed out dog food cans from one bin, the flattened cereal boxes (wax paper interior removed) and newspapers and the rinsed out plastic bottles from the other bin. All nicely sorted by me and nicely mixed together by the garbage guy. What a joke - because if I don't sort it, they won't take it.

I guess with fighting two wars, health care system costing an arm and a leg, a sieve for a border and our kids (not) getting an education, things must be pretty good in San Fran if all their worrying about is plastic bags.

Keep writing.

# 21. 3/29/07 7:48 AM
Anyone who has ever seen our trees festooned with those damn bags knows they never should have been invented in the first place.

# 22. 3/29/07 7:50 AM
If you have to have a bag with handles, how can you possibly be too lazy to buy yourself some REUSABLE bags with handles?

Editor's Note: not to be dumb, but where do i buy those bags? and how do i get the grocery or walmart people to load them?

# 23. 3/29/07 7:53 AM by Jerry - Rochester, NY
So, what you are saying is that this is one case where intrusive government should poke it's nose in our private business and make the choice for us between "paper or plastic?"

# 24. 3/29/07 8:03 AM by Mike - Penn Yan
Bob,

We use paper bags at our two hardware stores. Customers are surprised to find us not using plastic. we even provide a grocery size bag with handles that works great and is recyclable. I don't like plastic bags and they do not hold enough weight or sharp box corners. Plastic rips and is only good for picking up dog poop and cleaning out the cat box.

My wife carries a crate in the back of the car for shopping at Aldi and for holding all those "spineless" plastic bags from the P&C.

# 25. 3/29/07 8:03 AM by alexander - rochester, ny usa
I got your reusable bag! Pack up my groceries in paper, paper biodegrades somewhere, helps trees grow, we chop 'em down again and make more bags...

there. i'm reusing.

# 26. 3/29/07 8:13 AM by Mario - Brockport
I know one thing. Those plastic bags come in handy as pooper scoopers.

Editor's Note: that's what we use them for

# 27. 3/29/07 8:13 AM
Gee, our old LaSalle ran great.

# 28. 3/29/07 8:19 AM by Kelly - Liverpool, NY
Hi Bob! Wegman's is now selling reusable grocery bags for $0.99. I have two now, and I think they're really nice. You can fit about two and a half plastic bags worth of groceries into one of the reusable bags.

# 29. 3/29/07 8:21 AM by Keith - Brockport,NY
This is a solution that grates against my libertarian leanings, but sometimes people do have to be pushed to do the right thing. There are no pure libertarians anyway. The canvas totes work well and many stores give a small discount if you use them. A nickel saved is a nickel earned, as Ben would say if he were here today.

# 30. 3/29/07 8:23 AM by Ex Stock Boy - East Rochester
Remember Loblaws grocery stores? (still alive in Canada) Packing those paper bags was an art form. We were fast and careful to stack them correctly. Not to heavy, not to light and bread and eggs on top. And we offered to take the groceries out to the car for the ladies and older folks. No damned frauds using blue stickers in those days.

I try to help Wegman's save bags but they simply throw them away - by the handfuls. I get almost 1 bag per 1 item. When I say no thanks to the bag, they throw the bag away like it was soiled. If a bundle of bags comes off the hooks, they toss them. Too much trouble to re hook them. So much waste.

It is a scarey thought to find myself agreeing with SanFransicko. But give the devil their due.

# 31. 3/29/07 8:23 AM by Chuck - Penfield
Bob,

I respond to many of the subjects you write about and if you can remember names and discussions (which I would never be able to do) you will find that I'm extremely conservative. With that said, I don't understand why conservatism has to mean non environmental.

I would have no problem with paper bags....I would have no problem with bring your own bags or boxes. Look at Sam's club, they send you out with nothing and I survive.

I have watched a couple of episodes of the HGTV show "living with Ed". This show follows Ed Bagley Jr. (environmental wack job) and his wife (normal CA. Hot babe). I originally watched to mock the beliefs of this lefty lib from CA. I ended up saying to myself....I could do some of these things.

I love what we have in this country and I believe we should protect it. I also believe we should do what we can to be free from the middle east oil. So if it has to be paper...let it be paper!

# 32. 3/29/07 8:32 AM
I bagged groceries in the early 1960's for $1.83 an hour and then walked them to the customers car up or down main street in a small local village. It was all paper bags in those days. Each layer placed in a paper bag now equals one whole plastic bag.

As a bagger/carry out boy for several years I think I can say with some authority that loading and unloading groceries from a vehicle is easier with paper bags but the bags are heavier. Can't beat the handles on plastic bags though.

All in all I think this issue is a bit like a fart in the wind. It's going to blow away fast and the plastic will stay.

# 33. 3/29/07 8:37 AM by Tim - Rochester, NY
Bob, Us conservatives (improperly) get a bad rap when it comes to conserving the environment.

Now that curbside recycling is common, it's time for the bottle-deposit law to go.

And I'd pay, built into the price of a product, the cost for its reuse or recycling rather than send things to a landfill.

Waste is inherently a drag on profits in a capitalist system: look at our environmental stewardship that is completely outside the purview of government compared to China's impact.

All of these Al Gore-inspired freaks need to take a look at the facts.

That said, I re-use my Wegmans bags as free garbage bags, but that still doesn't address the problem that we shouldn't be generating as much trash as we do.

In time, without any regulation at all (and in spite of leftist environmental indoctrination in schools), we will be able to do what is necessary to have a lower environmental impact AND maintain a comfortable standard of living and liberty.

# 34. 3/29/07 8:37 AM by John - Scottsville
Waste not, want not. Cloth bags are the best- not only do they make sense environmentally ( ours are still going strong after 10 years), but are more comfortable to carry heavy items, meaning less trips. They also don't burst between the car and your front door. The checkout people seem to resent them, which is an added bonus.

You can buy them at craft stores really cheap, then decorate them with slogans that annoy liberals.

# 35. 3/29/07 8:40 AM by Mr Mojo - here, there, everywhere
and why does wegmans feel they have to give you 5 bags when you buy 7 items? there's way too much plastic items now anyway, this has to be one of the biggest waste, along with beverage containers. bob, when are you going to weigh in with your ideas for the new bridge name?

Editor's Note: beikirch bridge was my suggestion. it lost out to political correctness. my suggestion is, if it's going to be the douglass-anthony bridge, that we put a lifesize realistic statue of each one at either end of the bridge, so we can see who it's named after.

# 36. 3/29/07 8:41 AM by LDH wife to RC in Cincy - OH
Several years ago I bought 4 reusable grocery bags from www.reusablebags.com and I'm thrilled with them! I have the ACME nylon rip-stop bags that are bigger and stronger than plastic or paper. Some baggers are put out when I provide my own bags but most enjoy the change and are interested in them, either way, I'm doing the right thing.

As a t-ball coach I recently participated in the field clean-up day and had to pick up countless plastic bags from the fence row, tree row and brush we cleaned up. I shared www.reusablebags.com motto with the other coaches "Plastic bags blow!".

I suggest anyone remotely interested in less trash and waste to take the plunge and give these bags a try. My hint to remember to take them is to keep them with your coupons and when you unload groceries or need to wash them (raw meat) hang them on the doorknob.

I always enjoy reading what you write.

# 37. 3/29/07 8:43 AM by allison - Rochester
Good Morning, Bob,

Re. your poll - how about neither?

I've been taking attractive cloth bags to the supermarket for years.

They're sturdy, a conversation piece and hold more than either paper or plastic.

Don't forget Bob, trees take a long time to grow, they don't pop up overnight.

# 38. 3/29/07 8:47 AM
It's an example of too much government with too little to do.

If paper bags were so great we wouldn't be using plastic. The most I can carry is two paper bags, but I can haul seven or eight plastic bags at one time. They make better garbage bags too.

Will we still be able to use plastic to dump our garbage into? Is yes, what's the point to the ban? If no, paper isn't garbage friendly.

Why should I pay Wegmans 99 cents for their incredibly cheap reusable bags with "Wegmans" written on it? If they want me to advertise their store they should give me the bag for free. I won't pay for their bags plus the increase in food prices to cover the cost of paper bags.

I can't stand those Walmart rotary things at the checkout either. The cashiers are too lazy to hand me my purchases or tell me how many bags I should grab.

# 39. 3/29/07 8:49 AM
LL Bean sells sturdy canvas bags with handles (www.llbean.com). They're sort of moderately priced, I think around $15 now, but they last forever. I have a few of those. I also have an odd assortment of canvas tote bags that I've bought here and there or that people have given to me or my kids. A good source for string bags and other reusable bags is the co-op grocery store on Monroe Ave (is it still on Monroe? They may have moved). Also, Wegmans sells canvas bags in addition to their new 99-cent reusable ones. If you look around, you will see these kinds of bags everywhere.

When I shop, I pull out the few bags I want the cashier to use first, plop them on the conveyor belt ahead of my purchases, and say loudly, "I don't want ANY store bags, please." You pretty much have to say that, because some cashiers don't get the concept at all.

I have three kids. When I shop it's not unusual for me to spend close to $200. I have never not had enough of my own bags.

# 40. 3/29/07 8:49 AM by George - Gananoque Ontario CANADA
And it is the same bunch of wakos who in the 60's sold us plastic bags as the answer to the world ills, who are today selling us "man made global warming".

# 41. 3/29/07 8:50 AM
I think Lori's probably sells string bags or reusable bags too. (On Jefferson Rd.)

# 42. 3/29/07 8:52 AM by Clapaftis - Rochester
Hi Bob,

Plastic bags may be a sad sack to some; but

you must admit a clever invention..

# 43. 3/29/07 8:53 AM
By the way -- I keep my motley collection of canvas and string bags in the back of the car, so I never forget to bring them shopping.

# 44. 3/29/07 9:02 AM by mike - rochester ny
Bob, you are right. Good Ideas some times become self evident, no matter what side you are on. You know, I do not always agree with you, but you are courageous. In a way it has become PC to be right wing, nationalistic anti anything environmental, but those are American values. Go figure.

# 45. 3/29/07 9:03 AM by carole - Greenwood
Yup!!! Right again!!! Plastic bags rip and do not hold much. Unless you get Aldi's reusable bags. They hold alot and no matter how heavy, they seem to hold up. I have been using mine for more than a year now and I really like them. Can't go wrong for 10 cents each. But I do miss the paper bags which you can get at Aldis also for 5 cents each. They encourage you to bring your own bags or use their boxes. Why can't other stores do the same.

# 46. 3/29/07 9:03 AM by LakeSide Bob - Canadice, NY
What’s wrong with consumer choice? Let’s go back to “Paper or Plastic?” The government said you must use plastic. Now they want to say you must use paper. I personally like paper (never saw a paper bag hanging from a tree top along the expressway…) But, then again, there are times when I would prefer plastic.

Does this mean we will outlaw plastic bags for my trash can and lawn waste also? I doubt it. Government said no more DDT and millions of people have died. Government said pay an extra nickel for your soda and beer and there will be no more trash along side of the roads…

Continue to teach our youth the wisdom of recycling, make it convenient to recycle, and actually enforce the littering laws…I watched Assemblyman David Gantt dump his ashtray of cigar waste at a traffic light at the Ballantyne Bridge a couple of years back!

# 47. 3/29/07 9:10 AM by Chris - spencerport, ny
I once heard that they recycle them and melt them down and make cool stuff like park benches and deck lumber. Then I saw the price of that stuff. You'd think deck lumber made from garbage would be cheap. NOT! It's way more expensive.

# 48. 3/29/07 9:15 AM by Warren Blazes - Spencerport, NY
Did you ever get a plastic bag stuck to the exhaust system of your car? The stink and the fire hazard remains for a long time

# 49. 3/29/07 9:22 AM by noddy pine
please clarify for me.... whats the benefit of lanfilling either ?

maybe youre right - we can at least burn paper in our outdoor wood fired home furnace

# 50. 3/29/07 9:23 AM by Dave - Roch
So, when they now ask paper or plastic in San Fran, it means that Ben Dover and Phil McCracken are being asked about payment method?

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