Wal-Mart Bags

It seems that California continues on their unruly way, doing things that are inexplicable to the rest of us.  Like banning Wal-Mart bags.

California made history late last month in a manner that only its legislature could. With Governor Jerry Brown’s eleventh-hour assent, the state became the first in the nation to outlaw plastic bags statewide.

The real reason may never be known, but I suspect one of the touted reasons was to become more "green", to recycle, and those ubiquitous plastic bags nearly shriek of being disposable.    Nothing could be further from the truth.

Here in the Deep South, those little plastic bags are universally known as "Wal-Mart Bags", just as all soft drinks are known to be "Coke".  And, those bags are not discarded, but used over and over again, until they're in tatters.   There are very few things recycled as completely as a Wal-Mart bag.  Every household I know, has a place where they store used bags, normally on a doorknob near the kitchen or washroom.  We carry lunch in them, we carry clothes in them, we use them for all manner of onerous tasks.  You can stuff your feet into a Wal-Mart bag before you put on shoes if you're worried about getting your feet wet.   Or, put couple in your luggage to separate dirty cloths from clean, or send the neighbors a bag of produce when your garden is producing.  Or, use them for trash-can liners in the bathroom or office.  There are a million uses for a Wal-Mart bag, and there is no reason to throw one away until it is used up.

I'm sure that California has a lot to recommend it, but in lots of ways, it a silly, frivolous state.