This bag is not a toy: Everett residents bring on the sacks

EVERETT — Out came the bags — Funko bags, doggy bags, string bags, man bags — even a Christmas tote or two.

The city of Everett’s plastic bag ban went into effect Monday, dividing the city into two camps: bagged and bagless.

Shoppers who packed their bags were a happy, colorful bunch.

Their reusable sacks were a riot of colors, styles and slogans — “Fresh!” and “Pineapple!” and “BBQ!”

If they had them Monday, they flaunted ’em.

Laura Zorick proudly showed off a bag with characters from the kids in Netflix’s “Stranger Things” show.

“I bought it at Funko,” she said.

But this bag is not a toy.

It’s intended to carry bananas, seltzer water and frozen pizza boxes, the Everett resident said.

Kim Phuong sped through the store aisles with a dog bag, a reusable tote embellished with the most popular breeds.

Shoppers who forgot to bring reusable bags to the local grocery store had to make do with dull brown paper sacks that cost a nickel a pop.

An unscientific survey at an Everett Safeway on Monday found that less than 30% of shoppers packed their bags.

Most common excuses: “I left them in the car.” “The ban starts today?”

Experienced baggers, on the other hand, tucked multiple bags into one big bag using a myriad of methods: the quick wrap, the easy roll and the always reliable scrunch.

Sherri Rowland was able to pull a pineapple bag, and a BBQ-labeled bag out of a larger, fruit and veggie tote.

“I’m glad about the ban,” Rowland said. “Those plastic things rip up.”

Albert “Mojo” Muldrow said he isn’t crazy about the plastic bag ban, but he came prepared Monday with a bag that read “Fresh” and featured cukes, red peppers and green onions.

For others it was old hat.

Donna Hood learned the ropes when she lived in Austin, Texas.

There, a bag ban meant “No bags, as in not even paper ones,” said Hood, who was carrying a sack advertising horse feed.

She was able to stuff everything into a cart, but then “had to put every little can of food in the back of my car,” she said.

“I learned my lesson,” she said.

In December, Everett voted to join more than 20 jurisdictions in Washington that prohibit single-use plastic bags.

The city of Snohomish also passed a ban recently. It takes effect Jan. 1. There, the council implemented a 10 cent fee if purchasing a paper bag.

Edmonds was the first city in the state to prohibit the single-use plastic bag, and starting in 2020 it will also ban single-use plastic containers, including plates, trays, cups, lids, bowls and lidded cartons.

Janice Podsada; jpodsada@heraldnet.com; 425-339-3097