Comments on: A plastic-encased farmers’ market

By: Siel

Siel — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 20:22:08 +0000

I’m not familiar with the waxed paper bags — when’d they go out of vogue?

There is this one farmer at the Santa Monica market who wants to offer only bio bags AND charge something like a quarter a pop — I think it might be a while before that idea catches on with all the other vendors, but it’d be interesting to see what would happen if he did it on his own –

By: Diane

Diane — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 06:08:46 +0000

I miss the old medium sized paper garbage bags, that were a waxed bag about twice as big as a standard lunch bag. Completely biodegradable, and reusable, if you don’t squish the grapes…

Most markets have been giving a 5 cent discount for bringing your own bags for several years. There’s an incentive to telling them you’ve brought your own bag.

By: Siel

Siel — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 04:43:37 +0000

The farmers’ market people in Santa Monica are usually really good about not pushing a bag in your face. In fact I’m sure there are quite a few who inwardly rejoice like I did when people don’t take a bag :)

At the checkout, I usually smile and say “I brought my own bag” as they’re scanning the first item. If you frequent a place, they’ll get to know you and start to anticipate your bag –

I use just a trash can, no bag, for my recyclables — I just take the trash can out, dump it, bring it back. This doesn’t work so well for the black bin stuff, which can be messier — for those I end up using the few plastic bags that inevitably come in the house — from guests who used it to bring over food or wine, empty bread bags, and the like. Luckily, I don’t have that much black bin stuff, so I don’t run out of the plastic bags –

By: Beth Terry

Beth Terry — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 03:52:37 +0000

Edie: Using plastic bags as trash bags might save some plastic if you would have purchased trash bags. But they are hell on the environment when they go to the landfill. We buy biodegradable BioBags, which are made from corn, and are completely compostable. They come in 3 sizes: 3 gallon, tall kitchen, and lawn & leaf. They may cost more money than using free grocery bags, but they will save more than money in the long run.

By: Chris O'Brien, BeerActivist

Chris O'Brien, BeerActivist — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 20:25:39 +0000

Hey Siel,

Just wanted to let your readers know about an opportunity to get a free organic cotton tote bag. Basically, you eat Stonyfield yogurt and turn in the lids. I blogged about it here:
http://beeractivist.wordpress.com/2007/07/05/eat-yogurt-get-free-organic-cotton-beer-sack/

I also wrote a whole section in my book (Fermenting Revolution) about the problems with both paper and plastic versus organic cotton.

Cheers,
Chris “Beer Activist” O’Brien