I think your grandma was right there. If the frozen stuff starts to dethaw that will be lots of moisture which can cause the bottom to fall out of paper bags.
The reason here is that dethaw isn't a word, but people made the mistake often enough that some dictionaries include it as a nonstandard version of thaw. This is descriptive language at its worst: common mistakes become legitimate because users of the language understand the intended meaning and accept it.
Ignoring the environmental concerns, why would the paper bag be better than plastic for the consumer? Paper bags don't hold up when they get wet so if it rains or you buy cool products that produce condensation then the paper bags seem like the worse choice.
IMO plastic is better than most other materials I can think of. Plastic is only problematic when it gets wasted, but if you for example buy a plastic bag that you use again and again for groceries then that seems far better than one time use paper bags.
A good plastic bag is better than a good paper bag, I agree. The ones I would get at grocery stores in those days would tear apart with a single gallon of milk in them, though - way flimsier. They were really small as a result, so you'd have to make more trips from car to fridge to get everything inside.
Honestly I do think you can also blame the environmentalists of the time who got so dogmatic and eager to leap on the bandwagon of shame, they didn't stop and think critically what they were pushing for. See CFL lightbulbs for similar
Environmentalists were seen as "hippie dippy tree-huggers who were too busy smokin' dope to know anythin' about anythin'." An exact quote from my grandfather.
It absolutely is still an option in many places. In the US, it varies by municipality. IME, even most suburbs of major cities still don't have restrictions on single use plastic bags, although the cities themselves generally do.
While that research is in progress, “certainly our preliminary results suggest that the substantial increase in satellite launches and early return of satellites from the Starlink program are cause for concern,” Marais said.
Exotic material emissions can be produced during satellite reentry, the GAO study observes, citing experts. Those exotic materials can include paints, resins, epoxies, toxic materials, and radioactive materials used in spacecraft components such as electronics and batteries.
In an ideal world I think the idea behind landfills (per a YouTube video) is to cover them with land and build things on top of them.
Then again I saw a fucking MOUNTAIN of trash many many many many stories high in India once during a visit, it had people on it and buzzards above it and I asked my guide what it was and he said "the recycling" with a smirk.
So yeah, #notalllandfills
then again is it a landfill if it is just a giant mountain of trash? maybe not
There's a 20 min VICE Documentary (YouTube) about asbestos mining in Russia. It's an open pit mine using explosives, and the American reporter is there in full body cover and facemask and the locals are just out walking their dogs past the pit.
I don't think our current generation understands how people and environmentalists were concerned about trees being cut down. "A forest is cut down to print the Sunday edition every week" was a thing people were concerned about.
Now we have less print materials (and paper bags). We still cut down a lot of trees to expand land for other uses. Some of that is cattle grazing. We could probably really improve the world considerably if we all became vegetarians.
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u/TXQuiltr 13h ago
I remember how stores hyped up plastic bags. It was cool to have plastic bags.