Absurd plastic grocery bag ban hurting businesses

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/jul/14/absurd-plastic-grocery-b
ag-ban-hurting-businesses/ 

I live in the people’s republic of Montgomery County, Maryland. Our
claim to fame is that we are one of the highest-taxed counties in the
country. 

That is bad enough, but not long ago, the county adopted an ordinance —
more than a decade ago now — effectively outlawing plastic bags at
retail stores. 

It used to be that the grocery cashier would ask, “Paper or plastic?”
Now, the county’s rulers have declared they will make the choice for me:
It is paper bags unless you want to bring your own. 

Then there is what has happened to me and many others I have seen in the
parking lot: The paper bags start to tear (especially when they get wet)
and $85 worth of ice cream, juice, ground beef, asparagus and canned
soup sprawl all over and under someone else’s car. 

It is maddening. Plastic bags do not do this.

I saw this happen to a hapless mother with two small children and a
paper bag full of groceries that splattered all over. A pack of kindly
folks rushed to her aid, retrieved the groceries and then stacked them
in the back seat of her car. 

Why are plastic bags considered evil?

For many of us, plastic bags are undoubtedly more convenient, more
reliable, greener and less expensive than paper bags. 

I am told that the brainiacs on the Montgomery County Council have been
convinced by left-wing environmental groups that plastic is a pollutant.
We need to get rid of plastic bags to save the planet, or something like
that. 

The greens have been quite successful across the country with this
anti-plastics campaign. At least a dozen states coast to coast — mostly
blue, including California and New York — and scores of counties have
outlawed plastic bags at grocery stores and other local business
checkout counters. 

Here is the irony. Chopping down trees to produce more paper bags makes
carbon capture harder because trees absorb carbon dioxide. I thought
these green groups cared about climate change. 

Almost every study finds that paper bags are worse for the environment.
A Danish government study found that you would have to reuse a paper bag
43 times to have a lower impact across environmental indicators than
single-use plastic bags. 

Some stores are now requiring customers to BYOB (bring your own bags).

When I have issued complaints to cashiers and retail store managers,
most nod and assure me they feel my pain. They agree that it is a dumb
policy and should be repealed. Still, the law is the law, even though
everyone loses. 

It is bad for business.

There is only one thing worse than banning plastic bags, and that is
banning plastic straws. Paper straws turn to mush the moment they touch
liquid, giving them a useful life of about three minutes, so slurp
quickly or risk a blockage. 

Let us save the planet and stop spills by bringing back good old,
reliable, unbreakable plastic bags and straws. When it comes to
groceries and drinks, we Americans should have the right to choose. 


-- 
November 5, 2024 - Congratulations President Donald Trump.  We look 
forward to America being great again.

We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that 
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/ Biden / Harris fiascos, President Trump.

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