(Aug 1st, 2018, 06:20 PM)Moonface Wrote:

(Aug 1st, 2018, 04:17 PM)Mr EliteL Wrote:

Hose pipe ban, yay. I mean, our store uses a hose pipe to water outside plants we sell. No one's told me what we're doing about that when the ban goes live. Ha ha....ha. Reminds me of the banning or whatever of plastic straws, and still don't know if that's gone through or not. I still a small plastic box full of them.

I'm not surprised by the hose pipe ban. It's as expected with hot weather in the UK as putting salt on the roads is when they think snow might be coming but most of the time it never does.
As for banning plastic straws, I'm glad it's happening. The more ways we can do without plastic the better. I still hope for the day the US puts out a nationwide charge on all plastic bags at stores like the UK has.

(Aug 1st, 2018, 06:48 PM)Moonface Wrote:

A charge for a plastic bag in the UK is 5p. I also have not heard of dog owners having problems with picking up dog poop because of this, as you can still buy disposable dog poop bags. Also, the idea is that it encourages people to re-use their bags. Instead of constantly getting bags, you just re-use what you already have, so people who are moving would already have bags unless they have a habit of throwing out their bags, and if so, then by all means enforce a bag charge to stop that sort of behaviour.

Stores can also offer bags that are bigger, stronger, and if they break, will replace them for free. It worked wonders in my store, where it would be rare to see someone shopping without their own bags.

Also, charging for bags could be used to fund research into better ways to recycle things. Less bags get used, and we get to fund research into creating better bags for the future. It's a win win.

Quote: 2008, the UK Environment Agency (UKEA) published a study of resource expenditures for various bags: paper, plastic, canvas, and recycled-polypropylene tote bags. Surprisingly, the authors found that in typical patterns of use and disposal, consumers seeking to minimize pollution and carbon emissions should use plastic grocery bags and then reuse those bags at least once—as trash-can liners or for other secondary tasks. Conventional plastic bags made from high-density polyethylene (HDPE, the plastic sacks found at grocery stores) had the smallest per-use environmental impact of all those tested. Cotton tote bags, by contrast, exhibited the highest and most severe global-warming potential by far since they require more resources to produce and distribute.

(Aug 1st, 2018, 07:12 PM)Moonface Wrote:

The reusable bags they offer are plastic. Not the tote bags. They are stronger that normal plastic bags and bigger, and are designed for multiple uses. Again, if they break, you get one for free. Those bags are 10p, twice the cost of a normal plastic bag, but it's 10p once and you essentially have that bag for life. You will never pay to replace it as stores do so for free.

Also, again I have not seen the charge impact those on low income. I came from a town with a lot of elderly folk who don't drive. I never saw them having problems transporting their shopping and none of the elderly in my town came off as being well off. Also, if someone is on food stamps, then let them get bags for free. Either that, or make free bags be paper, which is much easier to recycle than plastic is.

(Aug 1st, 2018, 07:42 PM)Moonface Wrote:

Fair point. In which case, I wonder why not try to encourage the use of paper bags where reasonable as they can be recycled better than plastic. Also, do what Target does and give a discount on shopping for bringing your own bags. The last one would be awesome for those on low income as their shopping bills would go down.

(Aug 1st, 2018, 06:20 PM)Moonface Wrote:

(Aug 1st, 2018, 04:17 PM)Mr EliteL Wrote:

Hose pipe ban, yay. I mean, our store uses a hose pipe to water outside plants we sell. No one's told me what we're doing about that when the ban goes live. Ha ha....ha. Reminds me of the banning or whatever of plastic straws, and still don't know if that's gone through or not. I still a small plastic box full of them.

I'm not surprised by the hose pipe ban. It's as expected with hot weather in the UK as putting salt on the roads is when they think snow might be coming but most of the time it never does.
As for banning plastic straws, I'm glad it's happening. The more ways we can do without plastic the better. I still hope for the day the US puts out a nationwide charge on all plastic bags at stores like the UK has.

(Aug 1st, 2018, 09:21 PM)Moonface Wrote:

If I ever get a major internet issue I'll just use my phone as a mobile hotspot since I'm on a contract where I'm not charged for data usage so I can use it without worrying about limits.

(Aug 4th, 2018, 06:52 PM)Nightingale Wrote:

Can I just say that I absolutely hate technology and everything involved?

Half-an-hour or so ago:

Me: Well, this PC came packaged with a weak HDD, but that's no problem, for I have a brand-new SD card.

Me: Now that that's set up, let's move some large files.

Computer: Ooops! There's not enough space in C to move files to H.

Me: What's wrong with you? Begrudgingly deletes a bunch of files.

(Half-way thru).

Computer: Ooops! There's not enough space in C!

Me: ...

Rinse and repeat file deletion and retries for the next fourty-five minutes.

I hate you, Windows. You are the vein of my existence.