Groceries falling all over the floor? What if you had a “PLASTIC BAG THAT STANDS UP LIKE A PAPER BAG“?
ENVIRONMENTALISTS, PLEASE NOTE:
I am with you. Plastic bags are horrible for the environment, there can be no doubt.
But this plastic bag idea will at least make the everyday plastic bag re-usable, rather than disposable. Its re-usability and extra utility will induce people to use less plastic bags overall.
It is not an ideal solution. But it is a step in the right direction, a viable stopgap solution.
Of course, these bags MUST be made of true bio-degradable (not just “degradable”) corn-based plastic, or I am against them.
The PLastic bag that standS up: THE STORy
Before I got my cloth grocery bags (which are best of all, but too many people don’t buy them or use them), I used to always ask for “paper inside plastic” at the grocery store, even though it was somewhat wasteful.
Why?
Plastic bags have HANDLES, for ease in carrying—and they are WATERPROOF, so they don’t break open when they get wet.
But when you set them down, they fall over, and all your groceries fall out over the floor.
Paper bags, on the other hand, STAND UP when you set them down. Your groceries stay where they are, nicely packed.
But they have no handles and they break open when they get wet.
I wanted bags that:
A. would stand up like paper bags, but
B. had handles (and were waterproof) like plastic bags.
THE SOLUTION
Reinforce the plastic in the plastic bag so that it stands up on 4 corners, just like the paper bag.
How can this idea be a GREEN idea?
A. Plastic bags that are made sturdily enough to stand up would be sturdy enough that customers, and grocery stores, would see the value in CHARGING A DEPOSIT for them.
B. Paper bags are not really green, either. They are also disposable, though more biodegradable.
C. If stand-up plastic bags are made from true bio-degradable (not degradable) corn-based plastic, then, even if they are thrown away, they will bio-degrade.
The idea is to create grocery bags that are too good to throw away, that are worth the deposit money in and of themselves.
CUSTOMERS
Manufacturers of plastic bags, grocery stores, grocery store customers, anybody who wants a bag that stands up but has handles and is waterproof at the same time.