Common sense surfaces, briefly, in Maine

Ah, remember when there was food in grocery stores?

A reader familiar with my pet peeve alerts me to this story reporting that Maine has halted its impending plastic bag ban, at least until the Wuhan Chinese Virus pandemic is over. Once the all-clear is sounded, the state will presumably reinstate the ban because, after all, we’ll never have to worry about germs again — this was a one-off, eh? Eh?

With concerns mounting over how to contain coronavirus in the U.S., lawmakers in Maine voted March 17 to delay implementation of their plastic bag ban until next year. The decision, part of large package of emergency pandemic measures in that state, comes as a few elected officials around the country are pushing to delay or halt other single-use plastics bans, arguing that reusables pose more risk of spreading the virus. Maine's single-use plastic bag ban had been set to start April 22, but Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, announced a series of actions March 17 that included delaying the ban until January 15, 2021. “These emergency measures will support the state's response to the coronavirus and mitigate its spread in Maine," Mills said.

Related: Tales from Down Under:

Supermarket staff discover mice, dirty nappies and used NEEDLES in reusable bags after plastic ban

Dirty nappies and used needles are some of the vile items being found in reusable shopping bags when they are handed to supermarket staff, workers claim.

Woolworths eradicated single-use bags last week with Coles quick to follow at the start of July, but the controversial ban has raised a plethora of hygiene questions as people bring their own bags from home to the store. 

Workers have reportedly found a number of disgusting objects in worn out re-usable bags including mice, cockroaches and razor blades that shoppers hand over to them to bag groceries.

'We get stories of cockroaches crawling out on to check-outs from bags ... a worker suffered a needle stick injury after a used needle was left in a bag,' Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA) NSW secretary Bernie Smith told The Australian.

'Staff said customers had presented bags strongly smelling of petrol.' 

Dozens of concerned shoppers questioned how grubby re-usable bags would be monitored.

'How will you stop people bringing in their dirty bags, placing them on counters and around your stores,' one person wrote online.

'I hope there won't come a time when Coles and Woolworths and other shops would be riddled with vermin, cockroaches and other contamination in the future ... what about those staff handling those dirty recycle bags?,' another person shared.