Plastic bag tax

[AllanY2525]

The idea of Community Gardens in the neighborhood(s) is not only a GOOD idea,
but a FEASIBLE one too.  A packet of Tomato Seeds costs around a buck, but the
yield from a vegetable garden planted with these seeds far outweighs the miniscule
cost of planting them.

In return for the effort involved in a community garden, of course, is the fresh
veggies that garden would yield - food that could be used to reduce the grocery
bills of anyone having such a garden (at least during the growing season.)
If someone has a veggie garden and knows how to do "canning" at home (a
lost art, to be sure) they could stockpile veggies and have them last a very,
very long time in a "fruit cellar".  Canning is environmentally friendly, in that
Mason Jars can be used over, and over, and over again.

As a small child, I lived on a farm in Western PA, and we canned everything
from grape jelly (made with our own grapes), to pears, corn, green beans
tomatues, squash, etc, etc.  It saved on the grocery bills BIG TIME - especially
since my parents had five hungry kids to feed, and not a lot of money.

Our supply of canned goods lasted all through the winter, until the following
growing season.

[Towntalk]

For my part, I would like to see how the environmentalists explain away the Ice Ages, how they explain away volcanos, earthquakes, and the astroid strikes that killed the prehistoric animals, or the storms on the Sun that send out their storms as far as our planet.

Certainly we know that factories polluted rivers like the Mahoning, and we also know all about smog, but when you consider the fact that volcanos, especially super volcanos such as the one that occurred in the South Pacific spewed out enough ash into the atmosphere to have a profound effect half way around the world, or the astroid hit in Siberia that sent shockwaves as far as England, or the ice age that created the Great Lakes, you have to seriously question the Al Gores of this world.

Even here in Ohio, a large portion of the state in prehistoric days was a sea, and archeologists are still finding evidence of that sea.

Nature itself does more damage to our planet than man, so what makes us think that mere mortal man is capable of turning Earth into another Mars?

Even before the industrial age, our planet underwent hundreds of changes - animal and plant life came and went, and none could be blamed on man.

Were steel mills to blame for the demize of the prehistoric animals whose fossels we find right here in Ohio? Of course not.

I saw in todays paper that a company is starting up here in Mahoning County to recycle plastic bags, and guess where the end product will go ... I'll tell you, it will go to China where it will be converted into plastic products that will be shipped back here. This is crazy. If it should go anywhere, it should go to companies right here in the gool old U.S. of A to create jobs for the unemployed here at home.

[Rick Rowlands]

I think you and I think alike on many issues, although I'm probably a little farther to the right still!

[Towntalk]

Some stores do ask you: "Paper or plastic".

The whole point of posting the article in the first place was to show the extent that the globalists are going to control every aspect of our lives, and to alert folks to the fact that what happens elsewhere can very easily happen here, especially here in Youngstown where we're on the verge of insolvency as a city.

Do I swallow the whole Environmental preaching hook, line and sinker? Absolutely no! Anyone who spends a little more time watching the History Channel than "Dancing With The Stars" will see that we face more of a threat from causes that are far out of our control than we do from plastic bags.

How for example can the Green folks explain away the demise of the prehistoric animals, or any of the other early natural disasters that made radical changes to our planet? There were no factories coughing out carbon dioxide, no cars or trucks, nor conglomerates destroying rain forests, nor chemical factories pouring poisonous chemicals into our oceans or rivers, yet we've undergone several Ice Ages, volcanoes destroyed islands, and created them, asteroids have struck our planet with devastating results, and none of these events can be blamed on humans.

As to planting grain on vacant city lots to supply our city with wheat, of course that is a silly idea, but the point of community gardens certainly isn't. When I was a child, everyone in my neighborhood had a garden, and we did share with each other.

[Rick Rowlands]

Once again people have shown their inability to make their own decisions and control their own actions, and then petition the government to make decisions for them.  That may be find for you weak minded people but for those of us who create our own destiny, you and your ideas are a threat.

This is another stupid idea along the same lines as "Lights Out Youngstown" and planting grain on vacant lots.  Little meaningless acts that do nothing but make some people feel good about themselves.

If you don't want to use the supplied plastic bags, then bring your own bags, or beat the cashier over the head with a rubber mallet until they start putting more than 2 items in a bag.  Ask the manager to supply paper bags, or shop somewhere that has them available.  See, you can solve the problem without involving government! 

[jay]

Consider using reusable cloth bags when shopping.  The bags will last for many years and will hold more weight than plastic bags.

[Towntalk]

Here is a way for the city to not only raise some much needed money, but also reduce the amount of plastic going into landfills.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004322352_webbags02m.html

I shop for food twice a month and come away with about 20 plastic bags a month which works out to about 240 bags per year.

I do use these bags as liners for my kitchen trash can, saving a few dollars by not having to buy and commercially made kitchen trash bags.

I also use the bags in my bathroom trash can and the waste basket at my desk, but still in the end these bags end up in the garbage dump.

If I generate 240 plastic bags a year, I just wonder how many a family uses in a year, if they go shopping on a weekly basis.

We are talking of almost 1000 per year for a family of 4, and that's not counting the bags they accumulate when they shop at the Malls.

Because I do most of my grocery shopping at a Sparkle Market inside the city, that plastic bag tax would affect me.

Save-A-Lot has been charging for plastic bags all along, but do make cardboard boxes available to the customers free. Unfortunately there are only just so many of these available, and once they're gone we have no other choice than to buy plastic bags.