How long is it going to take for some common sense to be applied by government to the ridiculous ban on single use plastic bags in super markets. Controlling the corona virus demands it.

It is bad enough that it is now proven the ban is totally counter productive in every way, waste, land fill & heavier bags filling the void of free bin liners, but we now see the reusable bags as a vector for bringing corona virus into the supermarkets to help in its spread.

It is like everything the green movement ever do. The unintended consequences of their thought bubble ideas are always worse than the imagined problem they are trying to fight.

Hasbeen, again in lockstep with right wing ratbags emulating from the US, (Manhattan Institute and Competitive Enterprise Institute both are little more than fronts for the fossil fuel industry from which they receive most of their funding), to muddy the waters about Covid-19. There is absolutely no evidence that reusable cloth bags at supermarkets spread the virus. Unfortunate this nonsense argument is another effort at unsubstantiated fear mongering by vested interest to promote the billion dollar plastics (fossil fuel) industry, many of which end up polluting waterways.

John Hocevar, Greenpeace, said; "Even in the short term, plastic does not inherently make something clean and safe, and we should not confuse corporate public relations with factual medical research."

It seems that the reusable bags are unhygienic; some so bad that checkout operators are refusing to touch them. Like all of the Greens' 'good ideas', the ban on plastic bags is turning bad. What a surprise!

And, like all things nasty - along with killer pandemics - most plastic bags ending up in the ocean come from Asia.

Making things up again ttbn "some so bad that checkout operators are refusing to touch them" And so they should, its not a blanket ban, would you want to pack someone shopping into a bag the dog vomited on?

Coles policy on packing shopping; "We’ll also ask you to pack your own bags to minimise both handling & close contact time." That applies to both your own bags brought in, and the bags purchased in store at point of sale.

Woolworths policy; "customers are welcome to bring any bags they like when shopping at Woolworths, so long as they’re clean and hygienic for our team to handle."

ttbn, you need to get out more, sorry ScumO' has told you old folks to stay indoors. Good move.

Hey Hasbeen,

I never really changed my habits all that much.
I still get my groceries bagged at the shops.
- And I still use them to put my garbage in before it goes in the wheelie bin.

In my day working the Coles checkout (my first job) we had to ask the customer if they wanted parcel pick-up or home-delivery.
- Not if they wanted a bag or a receipt.

I sometimes get annoyed when they ask if I want a bag.

- "Of course I want a bloody bag.
What do you think I'm going to carry all this stuff out to the car by hand?"

Then they ask if I'd like my receipt.

- "Of course I want my damn receipt.
You do realise it's against the law for you NOT to provide me with a receipt?
What proof of purchase will I have if I have to return an item that's broken or damaged?
Why are you wasting my day asking these damn questions?
I don't give a crap about your paper and plastic policing or your stupid 15 cents."

I refuse to use their self service checkouts now, even though you can often get through them faster.
I don't like them hanging over my shoulder like they think I'm about to steal something.
"You know you're welcome to come over here and do it for me yourself if your just going to stand there staring and singling me out like a thief because I'm wearing a hoodie?
How bout you open some more checkouts so I don't have to do it?"

Being that I once worked checkouts, I decided I won't use self service checkouts anymore and will instead support that person in a job, just as I once had that job.
I'm not going to save them money just so they can treat me like a thief.
- But I still hate the checkout operators asking stupid questions.

IGA has plastic bags which are more like the ones Coles and Woolies used to have, but they're a little thicker plastic now, (same design).

AC,

I don't get this "do you want a receipt?" nonsense either. We still pay cash for groceries, but anyone using a card is an idiot for not requiring a receipt. Perhaps people don't reconcile their bank statements these days? Anyone who doesn't check debits against their purchase slips is a no-hoper, deserving to be ripped off. I agree with you on the self-service checkouts too.

I have just been reading an article by Tim Blair likening climate change hysterics to ancient Aztecs who used to cut the living hearts out of people to alter the weather (just as vainly as Leftists politicising the weather now).

But there is a paragraph relevant to this post. The heavy plastic bags sold at 15 cents a pop by Coles and Woolworths have added $71 million to supermarket profits. How could we not be cynical!

"How bout you open some more checkouts ...."

They probably can't because all the staff have run a mile at the very sight of the old cantankerous codger.

_____________________________________________________________________

It seems that many of the old shibboleths of the so-called progressives are under assault by the virus or more exactly our reaction to the virus.

Reusable bags, reusable cups, banning single use straws. The promotion of mass transit, travellers check-by-jowl. Promotion of the inner city elites as against the suburb 'bogans'. The war against the car. The war against suburban development.

Globalism. Moving production to Asia. Betting the future of education funding on continued foreign support. The war on extractive industries.

All on the back-burner as reality dawns.

Will the so-called elite be able to resurrect their plans and dreams once its all over? Well I guess that depends on how long before its all over and how well they can rewrite the history of the Chinese plague

G'day hasbeen.

I think we should save up the plastic shopping bags to put over our heads, as an exit strategy for the time to come when the small pox virus escapes from the Russian lab, Put there for safe keeping and research by WHO.

This virus has killed more people than all plagues put together. So far researchers have discovered forty five different strains of the virus, for which there is no cure.

The virus just loves little children particularly, but not only.

There was a gas explosion in the lab last year, where the virus is stored.

Corona is chicken feed.

Dan

Why not just sell those red or blue cloth-like shopping bags instead of plastic ones ? Surely, some Australian company could switch to producing them within a week or two ?
Charge 50 Cents & be done with it ! Simply don't let people put the shopping in bags they brought ! It'll only take one or two shopping trips before they get the message !

Or better still, couldn't we produce shopping bags impregnated with disinfectant ?