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Comment by orf | Hacker News Reader

Why don’t you just reuse them instead of putting them in the bin?

It seems like the waste is coming from you.

What are you supposed to do? Carry around bags with you all day in case you happen to go to the store?

If it is a planned visit sure, but if you are just out and about you don't want to be carrying around spare bags in your jeans pocket just in case.

Do you usually pop into target because you’re out and about, walking around with no access to a vehicle in which you might keep bags? And then you purchase enough stuff that you require a large plastic bag for?

And this happens often enough for you to be throwing away large quantities of these bags, and rather than reflect on your habits and adapt, you say something else is causing the waste?

Just leave them in your car? Most people drive to stores, especially in the US.

I also almost always have a backpack with me when I’m out and about, I just leave some cloth backpacks bags in it.

Realistically, how much stuff are you buying on trips to the store on a whim?

The vast majority of Target stores are not urban stores, they are big suburban stores where few people visit without a car.

But even in the city, I almost always have a small backpack with me, and in one of the pockets I have a very compact fold-up shopping bag that I use when I stop at the store on the way home.

I actually essentially do that, I have a reusable bag that folds up into itself with a zipper into a package about the size of a wallet. Fits well in a purse or jacket pocket and is more pleasant to carry when full than a plastic bag anyhow.

So really, there’s not even a small sacrifice involved for me, just a little bit of planning, to avoid making that waste.

And isn’t this kind of ingenious gadget based solution much more in the hacker spirit than throwing up our hands and saying, give me back the old traditional way regardless of the flaws?

Same. My bag's the size of half a wallet when folded, so it's not really a bother to carry a couple, let alone one. I tend to keep at least a couple in my car's glove box as well.

I'm not sure my plastic usage has decreased though, since I used to recycle the thin plastic bags to line my trash bins. Now I buy oversized white plastic trash bags to line my bins. I just can't wrap my head around e.g. having a bathroom trash bin without a bag protecting it. It feels incredibly gross, though I do know one family that does that. I guess/hope they wash their bins very regularly.

That’s cool that you do that.

I don’t like carrying things that I rarely use and try to minimize stuff I carry. And that’s basically just a phone and my clothes.

Even if you carry a bag, I frequently find that I need two or three or more.

I think a better solution is to just have decomposable plastic bags and solve the issue that way.

I'm a little surprised you don't bring a wallet or money into a store. I'm not being pedantic, but folded it's around the same size. A good reusable bag carries about what two to three plastic bags do. Plus, you only have to carry a bag when you're actually going into the store, anywhere else you can keep it in your vehicle.

I buy things with my phone. Sometimes I might have cash but that’s almost never.

Where are you before you go into a shop? Surely some times it's at work or home, or the car. Might help to keep a couple of fold-up bags in each of those spots. Usually habits lag these phased changes by a couple of years, but you get better at being prepared or anticipating times you'll need them.

I’ll give you an example from today. I was out for coffee and wasn’t expecting to go shopping. I walked to a book store and bought some books. They have me a plastic bag. I’d normally turn it down and just carry the books, but it was raining a little bit.

If it was important, I’d remember. I don’t think this is important so I don’t care enough to always carry a bag with me.

I'm not saying there are never situations where it's useful, just that they're uncommon and collateral damage in trying to change broader behaviour (whether by charging for bags or changing the bags on offer).

In your example where I live, they'd offer a paper bag which would cover the little bit of rain. If there was enough rain to cause trouble, people would have an umbrella.

Edit: stores outside of the US are accessible without a car. It is very common for people to go to local stores during lunch breaks or on their way home from work on public transport etc.

I personally don't have space in my jeans pockets after a wallet and the ridiculous size of modern phones to then also pack in 2 or 3 reusable bags too.

Sure if you drive to a store, keep some bags there. I do this a lot but I am not going to carry bags around with me on the off-chance I might go to a shop that day.

The answer is foldable shopping bags. Any intelligent person that regularly go to stores during lunch breaks or when commuting is either always carrying a backpack or a small foldable shopping bag. There are many folding bag designs that fit into your pants backpocket.

I have no car and I very rarely leave home with either a foldable bag, a backpack, a drawstring bag and when I don't have one of those that is usually because I am using my bicycle which is equipped with a basket and panniers on the rear rack, or my motorbike with its top case.

> Any intelligent person that regularly go to stores during lunch breaks or when commuting is either always carrying a backpack or a small foldable shopping bag

The problem is all the non-intelligent people, like me, who don’t carry this. I don’t carry a backpack around on my lunch break (or really anywhere other than when I’m hiking).

It doesn't have to be a backpack. A foldable shopping bag fit in the pockets of your pants. If this is something you do regularly, you would learn at the second occurence to have any kind of bag ready at your place of work.

I have a foldable shopping bag which is smaller than my wallet, you don’t need a full backpack. If I think I might want to pop into the shops while out, I’ll chuck it in my pocket.

Sure, if you want to do a big family shop then it’s a bit different, but that’s more of an event anyway.

Does it fit inside my phone? Because I need a bag about 1% of the time and I’m not carrying a bag for those occassions.

Keep a couple of fold up bags at work and take one on the lunch break if planning to shop or if shopping on the way home. I can't think of a time that I went out for a lunch break and then on a whim bought two full bags worth of groceries back to the office.

Most americans drive cars. You can easily keep them in your cars. How do europeans do it with higher public transportation utilization?

Most people I know tend to go about their business with some sort of bag on them.

Euro here.

I rarely get out of the house without some kind of bag and when I do that's because I take a bicycle which is equipped with a basket and panniers.

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