Seattle may eliminate plastic bags? Why would King 5 put a negative spin on this?

Question

I was just kind of taken aback when I heard the story being "previewed" yesterday afternoon. It was on King 5 and they were talking about how Seattle is considering eliminating plastic bags. The newscaster then does the lead-in to the late-night news with, "Why you might have to carry your groceries home in the rain in a paper bag. Tonight at eleven." Seriously? Is that what people are going to be worried about with the elimination of plastic bags? I heard it said that biodegradable "plastic" bags cost around 8-9 cents (they took the cents sign of the keyboard?) versus around one cent for plastic bags. Perhaps a bag charge could be added onto the bill, much like some stores give a credit for bringing your own bags?

Answer 1

The girl right above me is correct, they are trying to institute a cotton tote bag that can be reused over and over like at IKEA, Safeway is already selling them at a low price i believe with incentives

Answer 2

Hi Sione--I've been residing in Hong Kong for the past 8 months and almost everybody carries a recycled material tote bag here when we go shopping. The supermarket that I go to will give me small refunds when I use the bags. And every Tuesday is a 'no plastic bags' day, where the store will not provide any plastic bags. And if you happen to forget to bring your own, then you would have to purchase one of the totes from them. Now I have a collection of about 5 different totes (which I will bring to Seattle to use when I relocate next week). And they were given to me free from gift with purchases or companies handing them out with their logos on them to promote their businesses.



I think this is a great idea! It's convenient and easier to carry heavy groceries (over the shoulder). What a great way to save the environment and it definitely will not rip or tear in the rain!

Answer 3

I work at Kroger as a bagger, and you'd be surprised what people do about their bags. I have this one lady, I have her everytime she comes in the store she has only 8 paper bags and brings them to the store, every single time she comes and it's the same 8 paper bags. That's a smart lady. I swear she's a guru to going green. All organic, recycle, green approved products all the way. But some people have us double bag on plastic bags on EVERY LAST THING THEY HAVE! that's crazy! and i swear they fill up the bascarts with it. Kroger policy (in our store at least) is to count how many bags we use in a work period and adjusts to that.(oh and it's our policy not to ask you paper or plastic, because paper costs us more.) We used to have the recycle your bags like Wal-marts do, but now we offer sacks for people 5 dollars each and they hold a lot of groceries. You never see people use those though. We don't charge for bags, because people get really grumpy about what we charge them for. So since I'm just being a blabbel mouth, i suggest that you use the sacks we offer for 5 dollars, rather than the cheap plastic bags we have that rip making you drop your 10 dollars worth of eggs and cheese. ;]

Answer 4

The only issue that my g/f and I can think of is the load that will be put on forests to produce enough paper for all those bags. Other than that not sure.



If it had been KOMO 4 then the spin would have been different I think. More liberal news station.

Answer 5

Sione,

It's just KING 5 ratcheting up the fear factor to outrage (and thus attract) viewers. We both know that most people here will welcome the change.