[cycomanic]

I'm confused, in all the places that I'm aware of (3 countries) supermarkets sell paper bags for cases like these.

Moreover if it is such an issue for you why don't you buy one of these soft thin fabric bags that essentially roll up into their own little bag and are small enough to always carry around?

Like these https://www.ulsterweavers.com/collections/roll-up-bags

[fooster]

Certainly in Canada where one time use plastic bags are banned the supermarkets do not provide paper bags. They will sell you reusable bags which are larger (and therefore more resource intensive to produce) which are often not reused. I have a huge collection of them at home.

[VancouverMan]

I've got some colleagues who live in apartment buildings in an area of Canada that's like that.

About half a year ago, they were telling me about how they're seeing more and more of those thicker bags in their buildings' large shared garbage dumpsters, rather than the much thinner plastic bags that used to be used for bundling garbage back when they were still readily available.

I wouldn't be surprised if it has gotten worse since then, as people have gradually used up the thin plastic bags they'd previously collected and used for bundling garbage.

[Wowfunhappy]

The problem with the roll up bags is they're still too bulky to fit in my pants or jacket pocket.

[graemep]

I wonder what the environmental impact of paper bags is? The paper has to come from somewhere.

[bmicraft]

Paper is literally renewable and also easily recycled

[didntcheck]

Sure, the disposal side of the story is probably better, but as I understand they require more energy to produce than plastic bags (at least the old thin ones), and anecdotally they get reused way less, partly due to frequent tears, but also ironically because people instinctively shove them straight in the recycling when they get home

[graemep]

The renewable bit is not straightforward because it means greater land use to produce. Similar problem to biofuels.