Shopping

Tonight I made a routine visit to the grocery store to pick up our usual staples. Nothing too exciting. I've lately been shopping at the Kroger's in Chillicothe. Not that I'm a loyal Kroger's shopper. Quite the contrary, I really don't care for Kroger's. But it saves a bit of time traveling to Schnuck's and better yet, the sales tax revenues will go to Chillicothe rather than Peoria. It's a safe bet that the town of Chillicothe will use those revenues far more efficiently than the city of Peoria. Let's get back to why I'm writing this post.

As I stood in the checkout lane, a manager asked the bagger if they had asked me if I wanted paper bags. Sensing that the bagger could get into some trouble because he didn't ask me and that he did not use plastic bags, I came to the rescue and said that it was ok. In fact, I even pointed out I would prefer paper bags. And that got me thinking...

There was a day, long ago, I remember when there were no paper bags. One day, sometime in the late 70's, Mom was interviewed on the local news about these new plastic bags. She gave it a good review. But after 30 years of plastic bags, is it really a good deal.

For starters, I like paper bags because you can place more goods and products into them. With plastic bags, you can put a couple boxes of cereal into them and then you're done. Another reason plastic bags suck is environmental reasons. Paper bags are biodegradable; plastic is not. Of course, paper is not the greatest. As the paper will decompose, the ink for anything printed on it will leak down into the water supply. Think about that the next time you're eating at McDonalds. What was it, 15 to 18 years ago, they replaced all the styrofoam containers for their burgers with paper wrappers. While styrofoam will last forever, it would just look unsightly sitting in a landfill along side plastic bags. Parts of this refuse might even be used by birds and squirrels in next building. But all that ink on those paper wrappers will wash down into our water supply.

So I don't know, take your pick on how you want to destroy the environment. But for me, I prefer paper bags as you get more bang for your buck!