I know it’s a very un-California way of thinking, but I like my plastic grocery bags. I love how I can load those paper-thin bags onto my arms like a string of fish on a line, lugging 50 pounds of groceries up the stairs in a single go -- even if the thin, twisting handles wrapped around my wrists cut off my circulation for the trip! I save them, I use them, I make crafts out of them. And yes, I know they eventually end up in landfills and water systems, and that they’re bad for the environment, but I still have an affinity for them.
This may be why I’m having such a hard time accepting this “no plastic bag” policy that is sweeping our state. The thing is, I have so many reusable bags -- in fact I’ve got about 10 of those giant blue tarp like ones from IKEA alone -- but I can never seem to remember them! Instead, they sit piling up in the corner of Simone’s office. There are so many now that they’ve set up a permanent residency on the paper supply shelf (much to the chagrin of the office supplies).
In an effort to save myself the 10 cents retailers now charge for bags, and to hopefully inspire myself to break my illicit love affair with plastic shopping bags, I researched ways in which I could remember to take my own bags with me wherever I go. Here’s what I came up with...
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