This too is Yonkers–By Eric W. Schoen
So I am sitting at the Starbucks on Sunrise Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale several weeks ago, drinking my 4 espresso shots (actually ristretto, a little stronger than espresso) over ice in a venti (largest size) cup, ice first in the cup before the shots are poured. I am drinking through a straw. The straw seemed different from the straws I use in New York, very flimsy and difficult to move around the cup like I always do to get every last drop.
You may remember that my dad didn’t believe in straws. When I went to grab a straw he reminded me , ‘Men don’t use Straws.’ Dad had a disdain for eating off of paper goods in general, using them exclusively at barbecues. But even in a picnic or barbecue setting, if you gave dad a regular table plate and regular fork and spoon to use he would be your best friend. Come to think of it, he would have made the save the environment community proud by not using disposables to eat with!
But his crazy son enjoys drinking his 4 shots of espresso over ice with a straw. I don’t use straws to drink many other drinks, well maybe sometimes the little straw that comes to stir a mixed alcohol drink which is something I rarely partake in. I like to drink my expresso slowly, sipping it as the ice melts throughout the morning. When there are no remnants of coffee left, I might fill the cup with water, good old healthy water until the ice has melted and the water has been consumed.
This whole process takes about 3-4 hours. But sitting in the Florida sun I noticed after about an hour that my straw was starting to die. I couldn’t move it around the cup to savor any more drops of espresso that may have been left. Fortunately I was still sitting reading, writing, and answering emails at Starbucks so I got another straw to help me on my journey. When I left I took yet a third straw. What’s the Scout motto? Be prepared? Well I was.
And so began my introduction to the paper straw. The Barista told me that they had been using them for a while and that they had to use them as they were so close to the ocean. I didn’t buy the straw-ocean connection, but the nice barista offered to give me my drink in the new ‘sippy’ cup that Starbucks released about 6 months ago. ‘Sippy’ cup? Am I two years old?
(As an aside, when the ‘sippy’ cup came out a Barista put the passion fruit iced tea I was bringing to my sister in it. She put the cup in her bag and her bag still has stains from the red passion fruit iced tea. I was told never to bring her iced tea in the sippy cup again. I consulted a Starbucks district manager about this and she told me the Barista made a mistake and never should have served the iced tea in the sippy cup!)
So friends, this Sunday, March 1 begins our plastic bag ban. If you want to pack your groceries in plastic bags you better go shopping on Saturday. Fortunately this year we have a leap year so we have an extra day to shop and get our items packaged in plastic bags. Governor Cuomo stated this week after prodding from the grocery store association that the ban will be phased in. I guess that means neither you nor the cashier at your favorite grocery store will get arrested on Sunday if your cans of kernel corn are packed in a plastic bag.
The powers that be constantly say that one reason for the plastic bag ban is that the bags wind up in trees. Now maybe that happens in Chappaqua but I don’t see it happening in Yonkers. There are more sneakers hanging over power lines than plastic bags hanging from trees any day.
As I am sure you do I use grocery store plastic bags for discarding garbage. I pack my swimsuit in a plastic bag when leaving the gym. I reuse plastic bags to tote things as the occasion arises. With the ban I will have to go out and buy much thicker plastic bags that I am sure will take longer to disintegrate than the thin plastic grocery bags I use!
I don’t shop at warehouse clubs so the first time I faced a no plastic bag scenario was earlier this year when I went to pick up some Entenmann’s cakes for some of my elderly neighbors to enjoy.
With 5 cake boxes and some breads and English muffins it was a juggling act until I got to my car. Next encounter was buying Vitamin Water at a store in Connecticut. 10 for a $1. Try carrying that out to the car with no bag!
The whole purpose behind the ban is for consumers to use reusable bags. A reusable bag has to have a minimum of 125 uses, allow you to carry 22 pounds, be machine washable and have at least 1 handle. Can you imagine our seniors with two 22 pound bags of groceries schlepping them home from the market. Paper bags carry a 5 cent surcharge which the law allows stores to pass on to consumers.
With all of these bags coming into stores, aren’t merchants concerned about theft? How easy is it to put some groceries in a bag and walk out the door? Let’s not forget department stores like Macy’s will also have to use paper not plastic. And we will have to have reusable grocery bags and reusable bags for everything else. Otherwise, everyone will be going around smelling like roast beef.
How can grocery stores get around this ban? The legislation calls for a ban on bags 10 mils or less than. That means less than 1/100th of an inch. If the plastic bag industry makes bags thicker then we will be able to use them. Come to think of it, a thicker plastic bag will mean stores won’t have to double bag because their current bags are so flimsy.
Well, unless things change we are going to have to get use to a ban on plastic bags. The trees in Chappaqua that these plastic bags hang from will be happy. I just hope you don’t put onions in the same plastic bags as that new dress from Target.
The environment? How many trees will have to be cut down for all these new paper bags. Didn’t we learn in high school how important trees are for the environment. And beauty. ‘I think that I shall never see, A poem lovely as a tree!’ A poem by the man who the New Jersey rest area on the Turnpike is named after, Alfred Joyce Kilmer.
So what’s next? Congestion pricing making it more expensive for a night at theater or a trip god forbid you need it to one of New York City’s great hospitals for treatment? ‘It’s on the NYC horizon!’
Reach Eric Schoen at thistooisyonkers@aol.com. Follow him on Twitter @ericyonkers. Listen to Eric Schoen and Dan Murphy on the Westchester Rising Radio Show Thursday’s from 10-11 a.m. On WVOX 1460 AM, go to WVOX.com and click the arrow to listen to the live stream or download the WVOX app from the App Store free of charge.
