It drives me up the wall when I go to a store (Target comes to mind; I also see those stupid FreshDirect bags everywhere in NYC, even though I don't use the service), and the only option is a pseudo-reusable plastic bag, which I can only accumulate or discard. As long as you're charging me anyway [1], just give me a paper bag! Most of the time I have a re-usuable bag that I carry around, but for the times I don't, I save the paper bags I receive and use them to put out my recycling.
[1] I assume this is about cost to the retailer.
I can only buy a 1 kg bag of carrot and it's plastic. One kilogram of carrot is a huge amount for my dietary habits, and I need to throw away usually half of the carrot. Now multiply it by about ten for the different vegetables.
I sort my rubbish for what can be composted, is metal, what can be burned ecologically, and what must be thrown away. A normal household level of buying ingredients results in a mountain of plastic trash with no ecological way to dispose of it (other than landfills assuming the landfill is run properly, which they are where I live… but no way to guarantee it will stay that way for the next several hundred years).
I won’t even get into the nightmare of plastic toys, one of which I found had dangerous levels of lead despite being a newish toy from a responsible source (Melissa & Doug), and I was unable to get any government agency interested in investigating further.
I think it would be more pragmatic to have environmentally friendly single use bags available for a fee rather than wasting all those "reusable" bags.
I actually worked in a hardware store for a while, and after the old supply of plastic bags ran out it was common practice for customers to either bring their own bags, carry stuff out in their hands, or use one of the hundreds of small cardboard boxes or trays that were set aside on receiving day when the shelves were stocked.
I see it most days at the supermarket near my local train station: people get off the train and stop by to buy stuff. I see a good number of people buying "reusable" bags because they don't have any bags with them... it is ridiculous not to be able to have access to single use bags in this scenario. Mandate that they be paper or compostable if needed but "no it's banned" is not pragmatic at all.
I admit I am terrible at it. If I ride my bike then I bring something the carry the stuff home but if I take my car, even though I put bags in my trunk, it never even crosses my mind to use them :( Maybe posting this comment will help me remember next time.
On the other hand, my apartment complex demands we put our trash in plastic bags so I use the bags I get at the store for that ... sigh ...
I have no idea what it would take to stop that and what the substitute would be. Examples: I like Japanese Milk Bread. It generally comes wrapped in a plastic bag, arguably because it's not hardy like something like sourdough which can be sold in an open paper bag.
Similarly, local markets sell Chinese sticky lotus leaf rice, 2 or 3 in a plastic container, they sell fresh tofu skin in a plastic container. I guess they could try to switch to waxed cardboard like milk is sometimes sold? Is that good or is that cardboard infused with plastic?
Has any "progressive" country banned plastic such that pre-sliced meat/cheese is not sold in plastic?