help me out - how do can i manage without plastic bags?

[Liberal_in_LA]

Since LA's ban on supermarkets distributing plastic bags went into effect weeks ago I find myself buying plastic bags - for disposing of messy garbage, kitty litter, pet waste.

What am I suppose to do?

[Spider Jerusalem]

1. You didn't buy them before?

the ban is on single-use bags like you got at checkout counters, you can still buy garbage bags in the household cleaning aisle of the supermarket. So...do that? It's not hard.

[JimDandy]

5. Those bags have never been single-use in my household.

I used the checkout bags a second and sometimes third time in the manner the poster descibed. They got reused, not just recycled.

[Liberal_in_LA]

6. rarely- i accumulated enough ralphs, vons, etc bags to handle most garbage

[Politicalboi]

2. On the blackmarket

I have a plastic bag filled with other plastic bags. I will sell the whole lot for $20.00.

[Lebam in LA]

3. Valencia (SC Valley) still allows plastic bags

I was out there on Sunday and all the stores still use plastic. Was surprised because Valencia is in LA county. Must be a city thing. I do miss them too but I understand

[Warpy]

4. Garbage used to be wrapped in the daily newspaper

but that was in the good old days when it would be taken out to the alley and burned in a special pit that also contained ashes from the coal furnace. Every couple of months or so the city would send somebody around to dig all the ashes out of the pit and you'd start afresh.

I buy big garbage bags, too, and take 2 weeks to fill a 30 gallon one with non recyclable packaging, junk mail and dead mice. I've recently bought smaller ones for kitchen trash so I can take the dead mice out in a week instead of two--p.u.

You can always go to a WalMart outside the city once a month, they over package everything at the checkout stand and you'll get at least a month's worth of kitty litter bags with each visit.

If push came to shove, used kitty litter would be my only problematic waste. My kitty is in renal failure and she doesn't pee, she floods.

[Demeter]

16. Very few have a daily newspaper any more, Warpy

as you know, I'm delivering twice a week, myself. And the paper is such poor quality as you'd be hard pressed to securely wrap anything in it.

[Warpy]

22. I know. Maybe banning plastic bags

will once again spur subscriptions, if only for something to wrap the peach pits, cig butts and coffee grounds in. I get a lot of junk mail but it wouldn't keep up with a normal family's sloppy garbage production.

Used kitty litter and tea leaves are my sloppy things.

[Blue_In_AK]

56. We had a concrete incinerator in our back yard

when I was a kid in Colorado Springs.

[librechik]

7. the pet section of the store now sells role of mini disposer bags

just the right size.

[B Calm]

8. Another reason why hemp should be legal

for farmers to grow.

[REP]

9. I got a Litter Genie

Much better than a wastebasket with a plastic bag.

[winter is coming]

17. Is that kind of like a diaper genie for catbox scoopings? n/t

[REP]

19. I don't know what a diaper genie is

[winter is coming]

24. Think of something that looks like a cylindrical plastic kitchen trash can, with a snug lid.

Just inside the top, you have a canister containing what is essentially a really long, skinny plastic bag. You shove a diaper just past the collar holding the canister in place, then twist the collar until you can't see the diaper anymore. You end up with something that looks like a plastic snake swallowed a quick succession of meals, with less diaper smell than you'd have if you'd put the diaper in an ordinary trash can.

[REP]

49. A little less gross

[Hell Hath No Fury]

10. BioBags --

Compostable kitchen bags that come in a variety of sizes. See, that was easy.

[laundry_queen]

78. That's what I was going to suggest.

Take this opportunity to do something good for the environment. Compostable bags are a great idea. Yeah, you will have to buy them and that sucks, but the environment will thank you.

[upaloopa]

11. I think you can think if something.

Go to Smart and Final and buy paper bags they are made from recycled paper too!

[JI7]

12. you can easily buy them , but if you don't want to pay and it's a real issue for you

i recommend finding some businesses which deal with a lot of plastic waste and just getting some free from what they would throw out anyways.

when i was a kid i needed some cardboard boxes at times and we would find some place which would always get shipments and throw the boxes out . they actually put them separate from other trash because i think a lot of other people would come by for the boxes.

[Raine1967]

13. Does this help?

http://www.poopbags.com

I'm a dog walker -- these things rock.

[Lizzie Poppet]

14. Prior to the ban here in Portland...

...I stocked up on plastic grocery bags, specifically for cat litter purposes. Because there was a long, messy fight over this (which most nonetheless realized was only going to end one way), I had time to sock away a LOT of them.

Other than that, I've transitioned to paper. I also keep a roll of plastic trash bags around, but I don't use them regularly. I don't generate a lot of wet, messy garbage, though...so the paper bags work fine.

[B Calm]

15. Wondering how many barrels of oil are used per year to make

plastic bags for the United States. .

[tabbycat31]

18. want mine?

[petronius]

20. We keep all sorts of bags for litter-scooping and other trash: bread bags, inner

bags from cereal, newspaper bags, produce bags, etc.

It's worked out pretty well - we do buy bags for the garbage cans, but they work a lot better than the grocery bags (which more often than not had a hole in the bottom) anyway...

[MO_Moderate]

21. LA has banned plastic bags?

[JI7]

23. not a total ban, but now people have to bring their own reusable or pay for paper bags

[MO_Moderate]

26. Man, I don't know how people can live out there

[JI7]

29. warm weather, beaches

[Squinch]

38. Because plastic bags are the indicator of the good life?

[MO_Moderate]

67. No

because banning crap to control behavior seems to be the norm.

[LanternWaste]

68. I'd guess a lot of people believe their own conveniences

I'd guess a lot of people believe their own conveniences have a much higher priority than a healthy planet and responsible behavior...

[MO_Moderate]

69. Yep, most do

Especially city folks

[Squinch]

82. You have indicated distaste for a number of progressive measures.

So is your unfettered ability to use plastic bags an expression of your liberty?

[MO_Moderate]

83. Not true

I have indicated my disagreement with undemocratic measures.

[Squinch]

84. Because your liberty trumps all. We get it.

[Lex]

46. Yeah man, plastic bags are awesome!

[dionysus]

60. i've had the same stash of paper bags for my recycleables for years...

by now it's 6-8 bags inside each other, but hey.

cat shit goes in plastic... so it doesn't stink up the neighborhood on a hot day in the summer

[REP]

50. They've been banned up in the Bay Area for years

[Paper Roses]

25. I buy kitty waste bags at Dollar Tree. Box of 40 for $1.00. Sometimes in rolls too.

Actually they are labeled as doggie bags. I will be glad when plastic bags are banned in my state. I will admit, I will be stocking up if I hear that this law will be coming.
I still ask for paper when I am at the grocery store. I use the empty bags for my daily rubbish.
The litter box may be a problem. I suppose I could wrap the used litter in newspaper and tie the bundle with string or masking tape.

We will always be able to find a solution to these problems as they come up. Better than seeing the bags hanging in the trees or in a land fill for a brazillion years.


PS...spell check tells me that 'brazillion' is wrong. Is the word too stupid(like GWB) or did I really spell it wrong?

[marions ghost]

34. I would like to see a ban also

I am pro sea turtle.

http://seaturtles.org/section.php?id=126

[Agnosticsherbet]

27. Shop outside the LA Area.

San Diego is a long way to go, but we still can get plastic bags at grocery stores, though we have so many of the reusable shopping bags I think they are evolving into a new and unique life form.

[hlthe2b]

28. buy bio-degradable doggy (kitty) bags.

Millions of pet owners (at least those who pooper scoop) are in the same boat....

[Liberal_in_LA]

31. thanks for the tip

[Lex]

30. Ask for brown paper bags?

Use them the same?

[sakabatou]

32. Buy a reusable bag

Most stores sell them or you can buy one off the net.

[Arugula Latte]

33. I find that there are still a lot of plastic bags coming my way

in the form of bread bags, cereal and cracker bags inside boxes, and so on.

[Lex]

44. Good point. nt

[Gormy Cuss]

48. Yes, also produce bags n/t

[zappaman]

35. I feel your pain.

I always used those for dog poo.
The bags they sell at the pet store are too minuscule for the massive dumpage created by my black lab!

[840high]

58. Use litter box liners.

[laundry_queen]

79. OH, I feel for you there

I'm lucky - my dog is 3.3 lbs and I can pick up her poop with a teaspoon if I had to (I never have, obviously, I'm just saying I COULD, LOL) but my brother's lab...omfg. there's no way her poop would fit in my doggie's little poop bags. You can probably buy ziplock-type no name non-zipper bread bags for the bigger doggie poos. Or, as someone upthread mentioned, there's always bread bags and produce bags still. I still think the small-size compostable kitchen bags are best for the environment in this case.

[tandot]

36. I take the kitty litter box outside and dumb it directly in our big garbage can

we only have 1 cat (who also gets outside every now and then) and I completely empty it every 5 days. The dog poop we scoop directly into paper grocery bags, but we are almost out of those. I bought a bunch of those doggy poop baggies but they are too small for our dog's poop ... he leaves enormous mountains behind

I used the plastic bags to line our bathroom garbage cans but am almost out of them, too. Those biodegradable bags seem to be very pricey.

[Liberal_in_LA]

40. dumping unbagged garbage into dumpster not allowed in condo complex

[tandot]

47. Oh boy ... that makes it more difficult.

I like some of the tips from other posters (e.g., plastic bags from toilet paper or paper towels, etc.).

Would these work:

http://www.amazon.com/Earth-Rated-Pantries-Lavender-225-Count/dp/B00B5JJZG0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393976852&sr=8-1&keywords=biodegradable+cat+litter+bags

[Orrex]

71. Then dump it under your car

And say that you were using it for traction.

[3catwoman3]

54. Ah, the joys of reading too fast.

At first I thought you said you dump your littler box in your dumb neighbor's yard -

(As queen of typos, I enjoyed the hell out of yours)

[dionysus]

61. that can be wicked smelly if its loose in the can during the summer!

[tandot]

65. we usually dump it shortly before trash pick-up and add baking soda

So far, we haven't had big problems and it is away from neighbors.

[Squinch]

37. For garbage, you can use the paper bags if that is what the grocery store is giving now.

When throwing it out, you keep a cheap skein of jute in the kitchen drawer and a pair of scissors. Fold over the tops of the bag and tie a string around it so it's sealed for the trash chute or the outside garbage can. It doesn't really take any more time than tying up the top of a kitchen trash bag.

For those things that you really need a plastic bag for, you can get biodgradable plastic-y bags on Amazon. It is hard to tell the difference between them and other plastic bags, except that after a year or two the seams start to split.

[Liberal_in_LA]

42. thnk u

[Squinch]

45. Any time!

I got all the answers, but my problem is that I keep forgetting to bring the canvas bags to the grocery store. So while I do all these things, I still have a box full of plastic bags in the cupboard.

I think this is a learning process!

[countryjake]

39. Re-use the bags that the kitty litter comes in...

if you buy toilet paper and paper towels, those bags work very well as substitute plastic liners as long as you open them carefully without ripping huge holes in them. We also save bread bags and those thin sacks they use in produce depts. at grocery stores. If they ever finally decide to ban bread bags, I could probably make a killing selling the ones I've collected...have never thrown one out unless it's being re-used in some manner so I have tons of them. I also save ice-cream containers which work fine for typical messy garbage from kitchen and milk boxes, too.

If you look at what's coming into your home from a store as packaging and then consider what else you might be able to use it for, you'll soon get into recycling handy things and greatly reducing your garbage.

[Liberal_in_LA]

41. excellent tips! hadnt thought of that

[Phentex]

74. we don't get the newspaper anymore but we still get

local neighborhood news in a plastic wrap. We save those for dog walking. I think the bread bags are a great idea. I love your point about looking more closely at what already comes into your home instead of thinking of things you'd have to buy.

[LiberalEsto]

43. We've had a ban for a couple of years in Montgomery County, MD

1. We subscribe to the Washington Post and save the plastic sleeves it comes in for picking up dog doo (how fitting), messy food disposal and various cleaning tasks.

2. We can still buy plastic shopping bags here if we want to pay the tax - 5 cents per bag.

3. You can buy boxes of trash bags of various sizes at reasonable prices at Big Lots.

4. Trader Joe's has some of the nicest and cheapest re-usable shopping bags. 99 cents each.

We managed it; you'll get used to it too.

Good luck!

[pangaia]

51. Try EBAY. Search for.. 'cheap check out plastic bags.'

[Travis_0004]

52. http://www.storesupply.com/pc-13204-623-plastic-thank-you-bags-white-90109.aspx

http://www.storesupply.com/pc-13204-623-plastic-thank-you-bags-white-90109.aspx?zmam=66923263&zmas=1&zmac=1&zmap=90109&gclid=CKXogPKx-rwCFU4aOgodQCcAeA

[Cleita]

53. We've already been having to do this for several months here in SLO.

I bought some reusable shopping bags for groceries and other shopping. I had to buy plastic bags, 4 gal for those things I used to reuse the plastic bags for. I try to find the cheapest out there. KMart usually has deals. I don't see how this helps. I found I reused all the bags I got in the market, both plastic and paper. What I didn't use I put in the recycler so I'm beginning to think that the expense of bags were shifted to us from the stores. The bag manufacturers still get their profits.

[Blue_In_AK]

55. We bought a really big box of what they call "t shirt bags"

at Costco for disposing of kitty litter. I think it was like 500 of them or something.

[yewberry]

57. We have a ban in Seattle, too.

Here's a weird one, but we freeze our messy kitchen compost. Compostables here go out with the yard waste, so we have a medium-sized tupperware container that we keep in the freezer for all of the vegetable bits and coffee grounds and paper towels. Just empty it out once or twice a week, depending on how much you cook.

And yeah, bio-bags for some stuff.

[kentauros]

62. I used to live where I had a compost heap and a garden,

and one tip I remember reading ages ago in Organic Gardening was to put your vegetable scraps into a blender before composting. That way you not only have pulverized the vegetable matter down but also add needed water to the heap

I suppose since you're freezing them that you could then make ice cubes out of them and keep those in bags until ready to toss on the compost...

[dionysus]

59. small sized trashcan bags from the supermarket? thats what i use.

I use paper bags as much as I can but anything that can rot, or cat shit filled litter, needs to go in plastic IMHO

[kentauros]

63. I bought a couple of these re-usable trash bags for my garbage

(as well as two smaller ones for the waste baskets) and they work quite well:




http://www.reuseit.com/home/planet-wise-planet-wise-reusable-13-gallon-trash-bags.htm

The reuseit site also has compostable bags.

Now, the one thing I don't know is for those that live in houses and have city laws that state garbage must be in bags. As I live in an apartment, I just empty the bag into the dumpster, wash out the bag with a hose, and hang to dry before using again. If it's really dirty, I'll wash it in the laundry as they're made for that, too

[SoCalDem]

64. Buy some litter in the tall square plastic bins..with the tight snap on lids

Put a small trash car liner in it and scoop the litter into it.. when it's full toss the whole thing

[MineralMan]

70. Yup. That's what I do, too.

[CTyankee]

66. I use brown paper supermarket bags for my recycle bin.

Our city's recycling doesn't require separate bins for paper, bottles, plastic...it all goes in one bin. I can either toss the full brown paper bag or empty it into the bin and reuse the bag.

I don't have pets so no kitty litter is involved, however.

[roody]

72. Can you compost?

[Le Taz Hot]

73. They're not banned in the produce department are they?

I use the plastic produce bags if I need one but, seriously, I haven't used plastic bags in YEARS and I manage just fine. If I don't have a plastic bag for the cat litter I just scoop up the contents of the litter box directly into the trash can (has a plastic trash can liner) which is then taken out directly to the outside trash.

If you have a Winco in your area, their canvass bags are only 88 cents each. I bought them one at time until I had about 10 of them. When they get dirty, I just put them in with the towels and wash and dry them. One more thing, at Winco, they give you 6 cents per bag each time you use them so, at some point, they pay for themselves.

[NCTraveler]

75. "help me out - how do can i manage without plastic bags?"

"What am I suppose to do? "

This should go down as one of the greats. It won't, but it should.

[MineralMan]

76. Buy your own.

You can find them on eBay:

http://www.ebay.com/bhp/plastic-grocery-bags

What you want is called a 1/6 barrel t-shirt bag. About $20-something per 1000 bags.

They're even cheaper at Costco and Sams Club, and exactly the same bags.

Buy your own and you'll always have plenty of them, neatly stored and ready for use.

[PasadenaTrudy]

77. South Pasadena still has 'em n/t

[Tikki]

80. They are called t-shirt carry out bags …because of their appearance.

1000 for around $20.00 on ebay. Check the mil strength and all that. These are reusable.

Bet if you do the internets you can find more for less.


Tikki
Banning plastic bags is a brilliant idea…ask the birds at the dump and the critters in the Ocean
and the beautiful environment of California.

[AgingAmerican]

81. Seattle banned them two years ago

We get along fine without them

http://www.seattle.gov/util/MyServices/Recycling/ReduceReuse/PlasticBagBan/