From the Letters to the Editor at the Zero comes this fabulous rationale–for not banning them. See if you can spot it for yourself:

When exactly did we become a nation of spoiled babies?

We are required often in life to bring along the things we need in order to participate in the things we want or have to do: I go to the gym, I bring a padlock for my belongings while I’m working out; my kids go to school, they bring their book bags with their books and pencils in them. Why do we think it is such a hardship to bring our own carryout bags to the grocery store? This isn’t difficult, it amounts to simply adapting by developing a new habit. China decides to outlaw plastic carryout bags and it’s a done deal in a matter of months. Americans? We need to whine and call it Big Brother and act like toddlers.

And you opponents of this good-for-all-of-us idea, enough with trying to portray buying a paper sack as some kind of a tax. If you don’t bring your own bag from home, you have the opportunity to buy a bag at the store, a paper one, for just a nickel. That is not a tax, that is what it will cost if you don’t bring your own. Such a deal! What else can we still buy for 5 cents?

I’ve been bringing my own bags for more than 18 years, because it’s the right thing to do and it’s easy. I even have some that fit nicely in my purse and are washable in my washing machine. I’d be happy to share my source for these bags with the germ-a-phobes among us.

Oregonians, suck it up. You’re simply being asked to do the right thing, so just do it already. And plastics manufacturers, grow up. As the blacksmiths learned a hundred years ago, nothing lasts forever. Here is an opportunity to reinvent your industry. There are still things you can make with plastic that are necessary and needed, but carryout grocery bags are no longer on that list.

Jeanne
Oregon City