I was thinking about this the other day, when I felt guilty about the quantity of styrofoam containers that Thai Siam was sending me home with. What is the alternative? Bringing your own plastic containers? I have to transfer everything before I bring it for lunch anyhow. Otherwise I end up with a big mess.

Alternatives exist. You know those paper/cardboard containers are already used by many restaurants for leftovers, sandwhiches, pasta, salads... those will work. And you can throw them in yard waste when you're done!

its high time we do this

There are to-go container products that look like clear plastic but are actually composteable or degradeable. What does the city plan to do with all the money they rake in for the disposable bag punishment fee? (I use cloth bags myself but when asked "paper or plastic?" I usually say "burlap" or "gold lamé" please. ;-)

I'm all for it. The question is, what happens at a store like Fred Meyer who only has plastic bags? Will our bill simply go up for the bag surcharge, or will they actually get off their lazy butts and offer paper bags?

Lazy butts is the key problem, and resistance to any sort of change. When this came up in the Seattle Times a few months ago, they did a "poll" of random responses (read: attention getters) and a typical negative response was "It just doesn't make sense!"
That's the kind of thought that goes into this.
That's why we have some of our laws - to take the thought out of stuff that shouldn't be up for debate anyway.

Moving towards using reusable bags absolutely needs to be done! And for some parts of this state/country, this will not be a popular choice. But with minor adjustments to personal shopping habits, a lot of waste can be eliminated. As well as unsightly garbage in our streets, waterways and trees from floating/flying plastic bags.

Really, the change is VERY minor. In fact, some stores are practically giving away the reusable bags... if you don't care what the bag looks like (I don't), I use canvas bags that were given to me from conventions, fairs, freebees. I also love my "Chicco Bag". It's super compact (but sturdy) and fits in my glove compartment or purse for times when I forgot to bring a bag.

Not so much in the Seattle area (as I see a lot of people with reusable bags), but in other areas, I hope that people don't see this idea as a nuisance or being punished, because it's a very easy step to less waste and may even spark a fire in some folks to make some other "easy" changes to consume/waste less. Hold the bag please!

I've always chosen plastic because my dog liked it when I brought plastic bags home with me, and my neighbors appreciated it too. As some stand-up comedian once said (paraphrasing): "We take nature's most biodegradable material and wrap it in plastic."

I'm now purchasing bio-bags at roughly 10 cents per bag. I'm ahead of the punishment fee and am doing the right thing. Easy change for me...

The .20 per bag charge is supposed to go towards cleaning up plastic bags locally or some such thing, from what I understand.
As far as what happens to Fred Meyer goes:
Since when do they only have plastic? I'm sure I've gotten paper there before. This is a moot point however, as I think I heard that the .20 is for ANY disposable bag. Besides, Fred Meyer has an AMAZING supply of reusable bags. I bought one big kind "designer" polypropylene bag there for $4, but after deciding it was too big, I tried the smaller, black canvas-like bags they have for 89 cents. These are also polypropylene (which is recyclable, apparently) but matte rather than shiny. These are the perfect size to carry an ample amount of groceries without being too many (ie, too heavy) and because they are more squarely shaped like a brown paper bag, things fit in them very nicely. They also have a stiff, bottom piece to support the grocery, and the straps fit nicely over the shoulder. I now have about 20 of them.
Many other stores now have these (QFC's are green, I think) so you should be able to pick them up on the cheap anywhere. They are usually close to the checkout, so you can grab them on the way out.

"its high time we do this"

Who's 'we'?

The charge is on BOTH plastic and paper. Its a fee on DISPOSABLE bags, which means all bags regardless of the type. See http://www.seattle.gov/util/Services/Garbage/Re...
The business gets to keep part of the fee (or all of it if its a small business with less than $1 million in revenue) and the city gets part of the fee to go towards recycling programs and the like. Sounds like a great idea to me.

I know about the paper or bio-degradeable cornstarch type containers, but often you don't know what the place you are eating at has available. I would love a ban on styrofoam, but I think the ban will be on any take out containers. Maybe there will be an exception for the biodegradeable ones--like the to-go cups at Cafe Fiora. And, speaking of, what about our beloved to-go coffee cups?

The take out container ban is only on styrofoam.

Just last week I got one of those bags that you can throw into your purse for when you forget, and I LOVE IT! I have literaly used about five times, and I haven't even had it for a week. It is crazy. They fold us so small and it carried my whole grocery load out of Trader Joe's today.

Laura Bee Designs is selling these wonderful compact roll up bags that fit in your purse or pocket. I agree with you K, they are the way!

http://www.envirosax.com/

Mel, those are cool! I have quite a few canvas bags floating around but sometimes I forget to re-stock my car after a trip to the store. It would be great to have something in my purse!

I'm all for using reusable bags, but if you think this is anything other then a way for the city to make revenue, you're being naive.

When you go out for a meal, just put a reuseable container in your bag. I have never had a restaurant stop me from putting my leftovers in my own container and bag. Even the Space Needle!

I don't completely understand the designation "disposable" when both plastic and paper bags are recycleable and reusable. In fact, I reused a paper grocery bag for about 6 months before I had to recycle it. I use canvas (cloth) bags for groceries, etc., and try to avoid the plastic bags but sometimes they do some in handy at home or I recycle them. I'm not disposing of them (or very few) as the city seems to think is happening to them all, hence the proposed "disposable" fee.

Congratulations to those who can fit a reusable bag or food container in their purses or bags. What about the 50% of us who don't carry these things?

Rowbot, I am totally down with your point - I have never thrown away a paper bag, I re-use them in a number of ways until they fall apart and then they are recycled or composted.
I have re-used plastic bags as trash bags for years, too. Why pay $$ for plastic bags when you've already got them from the grocery store?
However, apparently not everyone is like us, and most people just throw those bags, unused for anything, in the trash. Unfortunately, many of the light plastic bags escape and becomes one of the environment's worst hazards. So while I miss their many uses, I've jumped on the tote bag wagon completely.
I would be all for anyone making it illegal for companies to put all the tons of excess packaging on each and every product we buy, and especially for someone to regulate how much can be charged for the biodegradable garbage bags. They should not cost more than regular bags for sure. I'm not saying I'm not willing to pay, but a lot of people aren't.

There seems to be a little confusion re the styrofoam ban - this would only affect styrofoam, not other take away containers.

And while folks on this forum may be conscientious about reusing their plastic/paper grocery bags, the majority are not and they really do create a huge amount of waste, and like styrofoam, they are extremely light so they get blown around & end up as litter on our streets in addition to filling up the land-fill.

I love the idea of limiting excess packaging too. Costco, which I love in other ways, is one of the worst local retailers on this front - they are the kings of the unopenable giant plastic clamshell box!

Plastic bags are recycleable, just like the paper ones. The problem is when they don't make it into the recycle bin...