Reply #12: For years now grocery stores in Belgium and France have not provided plastic

[MindandSoul]

bags. . .unless you want to pay for each one of them. . .and they are more expensive that purchasing a reusable bag that holds a lot more and lasts for ever!

It works great.. .in fact some entrepreneurs have come up with a whole bunch of new, convenient ideas to help the shoppers at relatively low cost.

My favorite is a sort of very light, but strong collapsible plastic crate. When it is not in use, it is about 15" by 24" by 3" thick, and they stack conveniently to take very little room in your trunk. They unfold to provide strong but light crates taht are about 24' by 15' by 12" high. They are also very attractive and cosst relatively little (about $6).

I also love their big grocery bags that take no room at all and last forever. They cost about $1.25 per bag, and one of them can hold as much as 5 of our flimsy carry out plastic bags.

We are so backwards with all that!

Another thing that many grocery store in Europe have adopted is the "pay to use it" grocery cart. Each cart looks exactly like our grocery carts, but they have a lock with a chain that ties all the grocery carts together until you insert a coin (several coins will work, but usually a 25c coin) in the lock. The push of the coin releases the chain, and free the cart. Then, when you're done using the cart, you take it back to the cart parking and insert the "key" of another cart in your lock. . .which releases your coin back to you. So in fact, it doesn't cost you anything if you take your cart back where it belongs (which avoids a lot of accidents!). And, if you're too lazy to take the cart back to the parking. . .someone will surely do it for you, because they will then have your money!!!

Once again, a simple idea that works great. . .no more grocery carts rolling in every direction and causing damage to the cars. . .and there is always a young kid who is more than happy to take the cart back for you to get the money out of it!
By the way, that system only costs about $10 to install on any grocery cart. . .and it pay for itself very quickly by limiting the damage done, not only to the customers' cars, but also to the grocery carts themselves.