Business

Featured Letters: Readers give their take on bag fee

Your article last week, “Mixed bag of opinions,” ended with a call for your readers to “weigh in.” Your use of these two words reminded me that although I’ve been bringing my own bags to the grocery store for many years, a stumbling block each time I shop is the issue of plastic produce bags.

I see nothing that addresses their use in the new law — will these be 5 cents apiece as well, or will these bags, also a plague on our environment, be ignored?

Jean Schweibish, Mattituck


I can understand restricting plastic bags, but why paper bags? (“Mixed bag of opinions,” Sept. 15.) My wife, in her late 60s, comes home from the supermarket with 20 bags a week. How many canvas carry bags will she need to go shopping? How long will they last? How sanitary will they be after a while? How heavy? I think this is another example of our legislature wasting its time on trivial subjects.

There is a whole host of very important issues that need their attention, like the budget and taxes, not this one.

Bob Samolewski, Cutchogue


Because we eat mostly organic food, I go to Wild By Nature in Hampton Bays alternately with IGA in Southold. At Wild By Nature, they pay customers 5 cents for each bag they bring in, rather than charging them for using the supermarket’s plastic or paper bags (“Mixed bag of opinions,” Sept. 15).

As a mother and a former teacher, I have learned that, for the most part, rewards make better incentives than do punishments.

Jeanmarie DiNoto, Southold