1.03.2006

paper, plastic, or neither

this morning i had to climb out of bed early and go to albertsons to grab oj, milk, breakfast bread, a fruit plate, napkins, and muffins for an 8am meeting. the oj and milk were heavy, as were the other items, so i put them in two paper bags, double-bagged... i'm scanning away at the self-checkout (as the real one isn't open that early), thinking about how strange it is that the main grocery store door isn't open and they make you walk down to the secondary door (which is conveniently located right by their in-store starbucks as opposed to the real starbucks across the street), when the little video/photo guy taps me on the shoulder and starts nasally lecturing me for double-bagging (wah-wah wah-wahwahwah) b/c albertsons has to reduce it's bagging by 20% over the next year or else they'll have to start charging me $0.17 for EVERY bag i utilize. after explaining all of these ramifications to me, he then mentioned that i could reuse my bags (duh) or start bringing my own cloth bags, but that in no way should i double-bag my items. now, i applaud the city for exploring this grocery bag charge, i do. there's so much waste out there, so let's try to reuse a little. and yes, they decided to apply the potential charge to paper as well as plastic so as not to be discriminatory (like a plastic bag is going to feel discriminated against... right) which is very pc of san francisco. but if they made sturdier bags, i'd be more inclined not to double-bag. plus if i was driving home and only using the bags as a container from cart to car to home, no problem. but i'm walking 7 blocks with two significantly heavy and bulky bags, so i will double-bag, and most likely in a year, it'll cost me $.88 for those 4 bags. i wonder if this charge will encourage people to reuse, or if it'll just create new revenue for the city. who knows. but be prepared, or you might get a tap on your shoulder.

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