There have been a lot of plastic bag bans put into effect over the last two years. What defines a “single-use plastic bag”? I ask, as I have encountered in Canada a 5-cent fee for getting a plastic bag, but I was not charged when I brought my own plastic bag.  So, I ask if any of the plastic bag bans that exist in the U.S. prevent a customer from bringing in their own plastic bags for their own use? 

Even before I began work in the plastics industry I would reuse the plastic grocery bags as lunch bags and car garbage bags. Maybe there should be a “Plastic Bag Day,” where people bring plastic bags to towns with bans in effect. I wonder what the people behind these bans would think?

Lawrence S. Cohen

Chicago