# Do you have a purse?



## keeperofthegood (Apr 30, 2008)

:| you know, I really dislike these things. When I do remember to bring them with me, I have them hung off my arm or in my granny cart. Usually I don't bring enough. Usually I don't go from home TO the store I want to use these at so I end up carrying them around empty for half a day while out (I don't drive so it is a day of walking and bussing). THEN I do use them. *Store A, store B, and then security in store C wants to know where I did my shopping and to prove I'm not shoplifting form them *:{

THEN the stitching comes undone, or like the canvas ones I had that unravelled and the handles fell off (and I paid 4 dollars each on them :{ ). OR meat bleeds all over them. Some the blood pools in some, some it just leaks out and soaks everything including my cloths. (Yea, meat blood, the reason I though canvas would be a smart move).

:{ and then you look for the symbol:










:{ and guess what, not a bag from any shop I have bought any of these from has ANY statement that it is in any way recyclable. Not even a statement of what material it is made of (could have been on the upc tag but the stores cut those off 'cause you got to prove the bags you bring you already paid for).

These then don't get blue binned (in Hamilton they may take them but usually the rule is, if it is not specifically stamped as recyclable and what material it is they wont touch them). They take up a lot of space in the trash. Not to mention, the absence of plastic shopping bags I am now having to purchase plastic garbage bags >.<

:{ grrr just really frustrated with the flooding of the market with these things!! I have maybe 30 or 40 of them, they clutter the house and they sure take up space in the trash when I throw them out. And anyone that has ever followed the news on people that re-use plastic dink bottles know, these things are like any plastics products, magnets for dirt and crud that doesn't get cleaned off even by running them through the laundry. Bacterial impregnate them, dirt gets ground in, and before a few uses you have something that is ugly ratty and starting to fall apart and you have no choice but to buy more of them as you throw the older ones in the trash >.<

Seems I had far less trash when I re-used my bags for trash bags and recycled the bags that were not needed for trash. GAHH then there is yard sales >.< what am I to tell people "sorry, you should have brought your own bag" when they buy 5 pocet books for a buch and coffee mug for a quarter!!


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

Hahahaha! All very valid complaints, I just haven't seen someone who is so upset about them and who expresses it in such an awesome way!

I'm with you on the in-convenience of these. I keep dropping by the store to buy food on the way home without planning it, so every time I go in, I buy a new reuseable bag and end up with a giant collection of them.

The one thing I _do_ like is the ones you get from Metro have two different lengths of handle, so you can sling them over your shoulder (if you're into that) or carry it in your hand like a sensible person.


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## keeperofthegood (Apr 30, 2008)

hollowbody said:


> The one thing I _do_ like is the ones you get from Metro have two different lengths of handle, so you can sling them over your shoulder (if you're into that) or carry it in your hand like a sensible person.





+1 for sure!

Home Depot is the same way with the double handles (and amazingly the wood I bought didn't rip through the Home Depot ones on the way home). Wal-Mart is stretchy so you can snug things in and Longos has a solid sheet of plastic on the bottom so theirs tends to not be tippy. The IKEA ones are way to wide and shallow everything you put in them simply tends to just fall out. They do not even make good laundry bags for dashing across the road to do laundry!

Yes, I really do NOT like them as they are becoming the only way of shopping and the are only making shopping harder. If the intent is to reduce waste what should be done is better enforcement of the laws that already exist. Like, a package cannot be any more than 10% larger than the contents law, I recall that from the 1970s! Or, why on earth does ANYONE feel the need to put coconuts inside of vaccume sealed plastic half bags? The shops that still do have plastic that charge you a nickel for the bag is SO just >.<

EDIT: OH and bring back deposits on containers. ALL containers of all kinds. Milk, pop, juice, water, pickles, marmalade ... if it is a jar, it comes with a deposit. Make companies 100% responsible to buy back used containers. I think the auto makers are under such a rule now too and if not they should be. Nickelling me for a bag and selling me something that breaks for a dollar and then is not recyclable is just a way to tick me off... a voter :{


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

here in toronto they charge a nickle for a bag. when i go to the grocery store, i don't worry about it. i mean, i'd have to have 20 bags before i spent $1. so, i shop for the wife and i, plus 2 teens (hers) and 2 beagles (mine)
i usually end up with 6 bags of groceries, and that gets me through the week with garbage bags just fine. and it only cost me a whopping 30 cents.
i don't know about here in canadia, but in the states grocery bags are made from a polymer that breaks down over time. i'm not sweatin a ton of bags in the landfill. can't be worse than all the baby diapers.


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## kat_ (Jan 11, 2007)

For groceries I prefer the plastic bins that Superstore sells. I can get all of my groceries for the week into 2 of them, and when I'm not using them for groceries I use them to prop the back door open so the dog can come and go.

The rest of the time I usually commute by bike so I have my panniers with me.


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

Gee I thought you were talking manpurse..... jeesh ....don't need one as I own a van 

sdsre


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## Starbuck (Jun 15, 2007)

:smile:I;ll fess up I have them from just about every store that sells them, they're great! easier to carry than plastic. Costco has these really, really big ones that will hold just about allyour weeks groceries in one, just good luck picking it up!


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

the really awful thing is, there was an article in the local paper about this very issue yesterday. they are saying that the tx isn't even a real tax. 
the stores can pretty much do whatever they want with the $$ and there's no oversight. they also stated that the tax is intended as a deterent, to reduce the landfill's content. they quoted industry sources that say these bags are biodegradeable (like i said) and they make up less than 1% of the content in the landfill. so in essence you have a tax, that doesn't really do anything, and doesn't actually go to to the government to fund anything at all. the store can donate it to any charity they deem worthy, regardless of wether or not it's an environmental charity. if that's not a clear signal that things are more than a little out of hand, no one will ever see it.


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

cheezyridr said:


> the really awful thing is, there was an article in the local paper about this very issue yesterday. they are saying that the tx isn't even a real tax.
> the stores can pretty much do whatever they want with the $$ and there's no oversight. they also stated that the tax is intended as a deterent, to reduce the landfill's content. they quoted industry sources that say these bags are biodegradeable (like i said) and they make up less than 1% of the content in the landfill. so in essence you have a tax, that doesn't really do anything, and doesn't actually go to to the government to fund anything at all. the store can donate it to any charity they deem worthy, regardless of wether or not it's an environmental charity. if that's not a clear signal that things are more than a little out of hand, no one will ever see it.


What I was wondering is what's to stop the store from telling it's cashiers to hit a "miscellaneous" button, or hit no button at all and keep the nickels for themselves? I haven't really heard how this is mandated, and if what you say is true, it doesn't sound like there's any sort of regulatory body collecting the money.

I understand what they're trying to do, and I applaud the gov't for taking this matter in hand and trying to help reduce waste, but this kind of seems like it was rushed out the door before it was fully thought through.


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## keeperofthegood (Apr 30, 2008)

hollowbody said:


> What I was wondering is what's to stop the store from telling it's cashiers to hit a "miscellaneous" button, or hit no button at all and keep the nickels for themselves? I haven't really heard how this is mandated, and if what you say is true, it doesn't sound like there's any sort of regulatory body collecting the money.
> 
> I understand what they're trying to do, and I applaud the gov't for taking this matter in hand and trying to help reduce waste, but this kind of seems like it was rushed out the door before it was fully thought through.


I am not going to disagree with you there. I'm a greenie and party supporter myself, however I am also a rational person and this does very much just plain not work for me on a lot of levels as I listed into on my first post.

As to the nickel, I was under the impression it was a Toronto City Counsel order to area stores they charge the nickel. I had thought it was to go to the city, but if it is to go no-where, I guess it could just be a part of general revenue.


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## ronmac (Sep 22, 2006)

shoretyus said:


> Gee I thought you were talking manpurse..... jeesh ....
> 
> sdsre


Yeah, me too. And, yes, i do have a man purse











I support the use of the reusable bags, not so much for the individual positive affect on our land fill, but for the way that they have pushed the "Reuse" agenda ahead slightly and how they have caused the average Joe to think about how we can start to move in the right direction.


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## keeperofthegood (Apr 30, 2008)

ronmac said:


> Yeah, me too. And, yes, i do have a man purse
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 That's a pretty decent looking sack that is! I have a green duffle bag much like that only more duffle bag like. 

I agree, the three R's are good. But the reusable bags are not recyclable (without the recycle symbol and the content code in my experience recyclers will not touch them, wether they politically pick them up at the curb and then trash them or simply outrightly refuse them at the curbside). Some may be made of a biodegradable paper product (though the bags themselves do not appear to say so) but the handles are still nylon by the feel of them. A shopping bag to be 'reusable' also should not fray out the bottom on three uses, or have the seams split open either. I realy miss my all canvase bags with woven cotton handles  those were really reusable to me, but they simply did not stand up to being reused more than a few times.


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

keeperofthegood said:


> As to the nickel, I was under the impression it was a Toronto City Counsel order to area stores they charge the nickel. I had thought it was to go to the city, but if it is to go no-where, I guess it could just be a part of general revenue.


if i understood what i was reading, they can pick whatever charity they want to gift it to, but no one is counting or looking over their shoulder. they can give it to the leonard vanderlub firebombing society and it would be all good with the law.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

Ya thes things are horrible for certain grocery trips (meat, milk, anything wet), unless you double bag the items with produce bags, which then kind of defeats the purpose of them.

We have one from the LCBO that is great though. Strong for carrying lots of bottles without tearing, and has 6 partition walls so the bottles dont clank together. Great for stocking up for get togethers or trips to the cottage. Highly recommend it!


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## keeperofthegood (Apr 30, 2008)

Diablo said:


> Ya thes things are horrible for certain grocery trips (meat, milk, anything wet), unless you double bag the items with produce bags, which then kind of defeats the purpose of them.
> 
> *We have one from the LCBO that is great though. Strong for carrying lots of bottles without tearing, and has 6 partition walls so the bottles dont clank together. Great for stocking up for get togethers or trips to the cottage. Highly recommend it!*


+1 and thank you for reminding me of that one!! That is also a good sturdy canvas bag too!! Yes, the LCBO one I think is a good one too!


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## Fader (Mar 10, 2009)

Why did we stop using paper grocery bags? Are they not environmentally friendly?

I miss them.
They used to stand up by themselves and not release all your purchases when you set them down.


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## butterknucket (Feb 5, 2006)

Now they want to go back to paper grocery bags.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

This thread is (was) almost 11 years old!


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## Verne (Dec 29, 2018)

Not any more


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Verne said:


> Not any more


Thanks. I edited my post.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

While running errands I generally carry a heavy canvas/leather shoulder/messenger bag that came from Lee Valley. In it I generally have a roll up grocery bag that rolls small and carries lots. 

At the Circle K one day I bought a bag of Wavy Ondulees and the clerk asked if I wanted a bag. With a look of incredulousness I responded that they come in a bag. He laughed like he just discovered humour.


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

'click'


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