2002-06-02T02:54:00.000-04:00

The war of the supermarket bags

The other night, I realized that back in the days of my childhood, mom would buy groceries and bring them home in those nice sturdy paper grocery bags. We'd then use those bags in our kitchen trash can. We never bought 'trash bags,' because the grocery store provided an endless supply.

Then, slowly, at the market, there was the introduction of the plastic grocery bag. Initially, only cold items like ice cream or a gallon of milk was deemed worthy of the new-fangled plastic bag. I remember marveling at these new bags, wondering why, exactly, cold stuff got plastic, while bread, potatoes and cereal got paper. I did not think that the thin plastic provided any extra insulation for the possibly long ride home. Instead, I think that it was intended to provide a water-proof barrier between the item which invariable forms condensation and the floor of your car's trunk.

After a while, you were provided the option to have a plastic bag for all of your groceries. At the beginning of the transaction, you were asked the blanket question:


        Paper or plastic?

Now, though, that question is very seldomly asked. It is assumed that you want plastic (it may be the only option you have). And no longer do we have sturdy paper bags to use in our trash cans to collect our refuse. So, now we buy, at the store, plastic trash bags, whch are then placed into plastic grocery bags to be transported home. Where a plastic trash bag goes into the trash can, and the grocery bag into the trash bag. It's enough to make you dizzy.

tangential