Why are plastic shopping bags called single use bags when you use them for garbage?

Excellent question.

And the answers is: propaganda.

The recycling crowd is trying to guilt-trip us into feeling environmentally guilty by falsely naming these plastic sacks. I think that there theory is that by making us feel guilty, it will cause people to buy into their coercive anti-bag agenda. (only partially sarcastic).

This is part of a much larger environmental agenda that would have everyone be vegetarian, ride bicycles, wear sweaters, and kill all cattle. (only partially sarcastic).

The fact is that most plastic bags are, in fact, single use. Only a comparative few are reused, even just to take out the trash.

All of that said, I wish the grovery would go back to paper sacks.

I am guessing because they’re relatively sturdy and thick plastic so they can be reused again and again, whereas when you use them for garbage, it’s a one time use and that’s it.

@elbanditoroso I find when groceries use paper bags, the bags tend to rip and can be a disaster if something heavy is in them (like a heavy jar of sauce or salsa). I’ve had salsa drop out of a paper bag in the store parking lot (total disaster and waste of money) and I’ve had Trader Joe’s bags rip in the driveway,which was another disaster with me trying to gather the groceries in my arms to get it into the house. Maybe the paper bags are not manufactured the way they used to be, I don’t know. Even if I look at the bottom of a fancy department store paper shopping bag, the bottoms are not glued that well. If I reuse them, I’ll put a strip of clear packing tape on the bottom to make it more durable.

@jca2 Yes I agree. SkipTheDishes has restaurants, in my city, that use sturdy paper bags with handles.

For the store calling them one-time use, it is…they only use them ONCE which gets you out the front door & into your home. What you do after that is irrelevant in their mind & doesn’t affect their responsibility!!!

Paper bags were banned because we were wiping out our trees that provide us with oxygen. Nobody even considered that plastic wouldn’t degrade in the landfills & that we would be killing the entire planet with them. Truth is…plastic was CHEAPER for the stores than paper was & still is. Adding handles doubles the price of the bag.

@LadyMarissa Wow. Everything is bad. Thanks for the insights. Is $0.35 cotton bag a better solution?

Plastic bags were banned in NJ a few years ago and now everyone manages to bring their own cloth bags.

@janbb Some places do not allow one to bring their own bags in Red Deer into the store.

I usually just order groceries through instacart. Less stressful, and fun. Online grocery shopping is like a video game.

I agree you use them for garbage hence isn’t that twice, you buy a garbage bag it’s just a one time use ,like paper straws the chemicals in them are horrible for you and they never last the life of the drink,but we are told they are better for the environment who cares about our health.

Some places do not allow one to bring their own bags in Red Deer into the store.

Well, @RedDeerGuy1, when you try to go into a store with a backpack or duffle bag, yeah, I imagine they wouldn’t care for that too much.

a 0.35 cotton bag is better than paper or plastic, imo. You can use them many times, and even when you do throw them away, they biodegrade. Yes, the paper ones do also, but think of all the trees that got cut down for every grocery store in every city across the US, and that’s just the grocery stores! That’s probably quadrillions of trees! It doesn’t have a thing to do with propaganda (or conspiracy theories).

They aren’t intended for any other use. Most often, I assume they are only used once.

We use ours once for food, a second time for trash, a third time for dog poop (in that order).

@RocketGuy I should hope so.