Bag 'Em And Rag 'Em

Yesterday I wrote of grocery stores, and doing so reminded me of something else which raises my ire. It's those grocery bags. Somehow I don't get the option of paper bags, but I honestly don't know if I could use them anyway, as I walk to and from the grocery store and would have difficulty with multiple paper bags. It's all the more unfortunate considering that I strongly dislike plastic grocery bags. They clutter my home terribly, and I bring home more with every shopping trip.

Of course I know many people employ reusable cloth bags for the practical reason of avoiding the clutter as well as the noble, high-minded reason of 'going green'. I have a couple of cloth bags myself, but I never do remember to use them. I think I have once or twice, now that I think about it. Even when I know I'm going shopping before I leave home, I think least of all about grabbing those bags. If there were no bags at the store to use, maybe I'd have better luck remembering mine, but that just isn't the case.

Having all these bags, I try to minimize the problem. I stuff bags inside of other bags, and I believe the area under the kitchen sink has become the place to store them. It doesn't seem right to just throw them away and punt the problem to the dump, or wherever it is that they go. I try to get some use out of them, re-purposing them as wastebasket liners in the same way that I imagine many people do. It just doesn't use enough bags.

I understood that laws were afoot to ban the bags. I have seen no sign of that, although it's possible there is or will be a punitive tax on groceries to get people away from using the bags. Probably the ostensible use of the money will be dealing with the bags, but I'm not inclined to believe that. If a substantial amount of public funds are amassed by means of such a tax, it seems far more likely that they will be allocated towards the budget crisis. You see? There will be no help for me in contending with the crush of bags. On goes the fight.