My SO goes nuts when I throw out one of those bags at least he looks very sad when I do. It's not because he is an environmentalist far from it. He thinks they should be used for garbage which a few for that purpose ok I can deal with that. But, we have thousands of them and now I am going to have to take them to the recycler. Yeah, I hate clutter it drives me nuts that I have to store them in the basement.

the grinding or shredding of plastics. That is why cities are so anxious to get rid of them, plus having to get them off the sides of roads and out of trees. Very damaging to the environment. Reusing them until busted is the best bet, then make a shopping back from them. On site that explains how:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Recycle-Plastic-Shopping-Bags-into-Yarn/

Oddly, there are exceptions to the law for small businesses that are not part of some big-box chain and I still see lots of plastic bags around. It's too bad because most of those plastic bags have a half-life longer than radioactive waste. For most of my life the paper bags from our local grocer were our trash bags. Much like your SO sees a positive use for the plastic bags.

It's really not too much of a chore to use reusable bags. I have mine for shopping. Anymore I feel a little embarrassed and ashamed if I forget my bag when I go shopping. Yes, we do have a reputation about being green here in PDX and satire about us taking it a little far at times is well deserved.

If I were to move to TX Austin would be a city in which I'd want to live. From what I've read and my brief visit there years ago it seems like a nice place and is everything that is good about TX.

I guess folks will just have to go to the dollar store and buy a big box of Hefty bags, with zippers and all...

Most of the parks in the area have dispensers for them .

I didn't realize those were available. Of course, I'm sure Petco sells them for three times as much as the dollar store...

No matter how hard you try to avoid plastic bags, you will end up with extra plastic bags, since pretty much everything comes in plastic these days. I've been using cloth bags for over a decade. I even avoid plastic produce bags, but I still end up with extra plastic bags. Most are small and would be perfect for picking up dog poop, if I had a dog.

You'll never really get rid of plastic bags. It makes Mayor Mike's effort seem a bit futile.

Bags aren't wasteful but the careless way people use is.

and my mantra for years has been, "I'm okay, I don't need a bag",

Well, when I got to the check out and started my spiel, I remembered and said, "oh right, no more bags" and the checkout person and I laughed.