Luke: Why paper bags were already the better option

If you’re a lover of plastic bags, you have about ten days
before it’ll be hard to find the flimsy sacks in Seattle.

The city’s ban begins July 1, which prohibits stores from
providing the convenience. Instead, you can bring your
own or buy a paper bag for 5 cents each.

It’s a small luxury that may end up costing Luke Burbank a
lot of money. See Luke hasn’t used a plastic sack in
years because he enjoys QFC’s paper bags with the handles
so much.

“It makes me feel like such a classy individual.”

But Luke knows it’s not a mutual feeling because the self
check out never includes a huge pile of paper bags and the
checker always asks him if he wants plastic.

“They always say ‘Plastic?’ and you have to say ‘Oh, no,
I’d like paper.’ You have to opt out of plastic and opt
in to paper. Opt in to your dreams, if you ask me.”

Luke theorizes stores must be stingy with the handled
paper bags because someone has to end up paying a kid to
roll up and glue on those little handles. They don’t exist
in the natural order of paper bag templates.

“I don’t know how much it costs them.”

Beginning in July, retailers may make some of that money
back because the city law says they can keep the five
cents they’ll charge shoppers.

You’ll notice the extra cost on your receipt. If you’re
a heavy shopper and use 20 bags per visits, that’s a whole
whopping dollar. Theoretically, you may end up spending
an extra $50 plus every year on a device to get your food
from the store to the car to the front door and to the
kitchen. That is, unless you pay about $20 up front on the
reusable bags.

If you’re like Luke, you probably already have a hefty
pile of these (also flimsy) fabric bags. More likely than
not, it’s because you feel guilty.

“I feel pressured from the checker. They’re usually saying
‘Do you want to get a reusable bag or would you like to
hate punch the environment?’ Nobody wants the cute girl
at Trader Joes to think you want to hate punch the
environment.”

According to the City of Seattle, “there is no entirely
objective measure for when a carryout bag may be deemed
reusable.” But the city goes on to say that it’s probably
a failure if you can’t get 10 uses. It would like you to
use 20 uses as a bench mark.

If that isn’t enough to consider on top of what to make
for dinner, you should know that the plastic bags on the
rolls in the produce and meat sections are free to use.
You also won’t be charged in Seattle for bags for
newspapers, dry cleaning, take-out food, and the small
paper bags.

Happy shopping, Seattle. If Edmonds and Mukilteo can
handle a plastic bag ban, so can you.