Sunday, February 24, 2013

Effing Wal Mart

Just in case someone is pissed off about being charged for paper bags, or having to pay a buck for a reusable bag, the bottom of the sign says
Please leave guns & ammo you want to return, in your car. 
What lucky, low paid employee gets to go out to the parking lot for the gun/ammo return??



Sure, use the new ordinance to hit up customers for another nickel. 
Yet Tree Hugger writes this:

They will be on sale to the public at the price of $1, and Wal-Mart will apparently be taking them back for recycling when they reach the end of their useful life. We haven't heard anything about the company giving incentives for customers to reuse them, nor disincentives for the use of disposables, both of which would be further steps in the right direction. However, we are pleased to see yet another sign of the giant trying to reduce its footprint. Of course we should probably point out that however green Wal-Mart becomes, consumerism is likely to come with a significant environmental impact for some time to come. With this in mind, the fewer times a shopper fills up that bag in the first place, the greener they will be — but when the need does arise to shop, whether at Wal-Mart or elsewhere, we hope the public will use this new tote and use it well.

Another write up:
"All are black, 100% recyclable, and are made from 85% recycled materials.
The tags state that each bag is made from approximately 4 plastic soda bottles and can replace 50 shopping bags. The claim is that they can carry the same weight as 2-3 plastic bags.
An article from Sustainable is Good states that Wal-Mart will take these bags back for recycling at the end of their lifespan. 
At Wal-Mart the rotating bag-holder was not designed for reusable bags, and there really is no room for the cashier to put them elsewhere to load them.
My particular cashier had some previous experience with filling reusable bags at the check stand, so she did manage to work out a way to fill them without too much trouble, but it was more time-consuming than using their plastic bags, and it was a hassle for the cashier."
The local town forced the no plastic bag mandate, so Walmart is not getting "green" credit here-- the green they are going for is to either charge you for paper bags or get you to buy another thing.  

Don't feed the bag monsters!





4 comments:

Life As I Know It Now said...

I prefer paper over plastic anyday.

Fran said...

Paper will biodegrade, so it is preferred, but is it necessary for Walmart to charge people .05¢ per bag? Seems like their 1 finger salute to the City for enacting a plastic bag ban.
One could argue they are "promoting green & sustainable practices", but Walmart shoppers tend to be there to save a buck, not have to spend more to have something to carry purchases in.

I notice in stores that carry both paper & plastic...
They tend to go for the plastic unless you ask for paper. Besides the plastic bags are petro chemical based & take forever to eventually break down. Also they are smaller, so you wind up using more of them.
Kudos to the people who thought up the "bag monster" costume.

D.K. Raed said...

is this ALL walmarts? hope not. what will I use to pick up dog poop, line my bathroom/bdrm trash cans, etc? lots of people donate their plastic walmart bags to the local dog parks, so they are being reused at least once. there are plastic bags that bio-degrade faster and still cost less than paper ... but I guess walmart can't be bothered.

Anonymous said...

Plastic bags have been banned in the City of Eugene, w the exception of certain restaurants/foods. Plastic bags take forever to decompose and they are petroleum oil based products. Paper breaks down quicker & easier & is fiber based & made from post consumer recycled materials . Lots of wildlife gets entangled in plastic bags & because of smaller size, one uses more plastic bags.
So if the oil based plastic bags are cheaper, you can bet wal mart & others will use them to increase their profit margins.

If it were purely environmental, plastic bags would be abolished.