Category: plastic bags

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A Grocery Store Gives Customers Embarrassing Plastic Bags to Encourage Them to Bring Their Own

A trend has developed in recent years where we’re seeing cities, counties, and grocery stores completely banning the use of single-use plastic bags altogether. So while there is some progress, we still have a long way to go.

One grocery store in Vancouver, British Columbia, decided to try to convince their customers NOT to use plastic bags in a very unique, and hilarious, way.

East West Market is offering customers plastic bags with fake slogans and fake businesses that no one, and I mean no one, would want to be seen with. How’s that for a deterrent? Embarrassment always works, people.

How would you like to carry a bag around town that said, “Into the Weird Adult Video Emporium,” “Dr. Toews’ Wart Ointment Wholesale,” or “The Colon Care Co-op”? You’d probably never be able to look your neighbors in the eye again.

The bags have the tag line “Avoid the shame. Bring a reusable bag” printed on them as well. Customers also have to pay five cents per plastic bag at East West Market if they don’t bring their own bags.

The owner of East West Market, David Lee Kwen, said about the project, “We wanted to give them something humorous, but also something that made them think at the same time. It’s human nature not to want to be told what to do.”

One downside has been that because the bags went viral online, people are paying the five cents to collect them. Kwen said, “Some of the customers want to collect them because they love the idea of it. It’s a double-edged sword. We wanted to address an issue, but we’ve also made something popular. Our aim was to start a conversation that could go beyond people just remembering their reusable bags when they come to our market—and we’re glad that the conversation has kept growing, with anyone who’s seen or interacted with the bags.”

Hey, at least people are taking notice, right?

Just do us a favor and bring a reusable bag next time you go grocery shopping, okay?

We’ll all be better off.

The post A Grocery Store Gives Customers Embarrassing Plastic Bags to Encourage Them to Bring Their Own appeared first on UberFacts.

Posted on

A Grocery Store Gives Customers Embarrassing Plastic Bags to Encourage Them to Bring Their Own

A trend has developed in recent years where we’re seeing cities, counties, and grocery stores completely banning the use of single-use plastic bags altogether. So while there is some progress, we still have a long way to go.

One grocery store in Vancouver, British Columbia, decided to try to convince their customers NOT to use plastic bags in a very unique, and hilarious, way.

East West Market is offering customers plastic bags with fake slogans and fake businesses that no one, and I mean no one, would want to be seen with. How’s that for a deterrent? Embarrassment always works, people.

How would you like to carry a bag around town that said, “Into the Weird Adult Video Emporium,” “Dr. Toews’ Wart Ointment Wholesale,” or “The Colon Care Co-op”? You’d probably never be able to look your neighbors in the eye again.

The bags have the tag line “Avoid the shame. Bring a reusable bag” printed on them as well. Customers also have to pay five cents per plastic bag at East West Market if they don’t bring their own bags.

The owner of East West Market, David Lee Kwen, said about the project, “We wanted to give them something humorous, but also something that made them think at the same time. It’s human nature not to want to be told what to do.”

One downside has been that because the bags went viral online, people are paying the five cents to collect them. Kwen said, “Some of the customers want to collect them because they love the idea of it. It’s a double-edged sword. We wanted to address an issue, but we’ve also made something popular. Our aim was to start a conversation that could go beyond people just remembering their reusable bags when they come to our market—and we’re glad that the conversation has kept growing, with anyone who’s seen or interacted with the bags.”

Hey, at least people are taking notice, right?

Just do us a favor and bring a reusable bag next time you go grocery shopping, okay?

We’ll all be better off.

The post A Grocery Store Gives Customers Embarrassing Plastic Bags to Encourage Them to Bring Their Own appeared first on UberFacts.

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Big Apple Goes Green: New York State Just Banned Plastic Bags

Consumers have had the option of getting their groceries in resuable grocery bags for some time now, but sadly, plastic bags still reign supreme. A lot of folks are just forgetful, and buy the reusable bags but keep forgetting to bring them along when they go out.

Residents of New York state may not be able to use that excuse for long, however: New York State is officially banning plastic bags, and some counties will impose a fee on paper bags too.

New York is the second U.S. state to ban plastic bags after California.

Photo Credit: iStock

Governor Andrew Cuomo first proposed the plan last year, and it goes into effect in March 2020. Goodbye, single-use plastic bags! Mostly, anyway. Some types of plastic bags – like newspaper bags or trash bags – will be exempted from the ban.

Instead, customers will have to use either paper bags or reusable bags. Individual counties can opt into a 5-cent fee on paper bags, though it’s not a mandatory part of the new law. The idea, it seems, is to encourage people to use reusable bags as much as possible, rather than paper or plastic.

Photo Credit: iStock

Environmentally speaking, this new law definitely marks progress. Plastic bags are basically the bane of the planet’s existence. They’re hugely wasteful, non-biodegradable, harmful to wildlife, environmentally costly to produce…the list goes on and on.

“These bags have blighted our environment and clogged our waterways,” Governor Cuomo said in a statement. He said the new plan will be a way to “protect our natural resources for future generations of New Yorkers.”

And the rest of us benefit, too.

The post Big Apple Goes Green: New York State Just Banned Plastic Bags appeared first on UberFacts.