As of March 1, the City of Austin passed an ordinance banning stores from giving customers plastic bags. The idea is to reduce excess waste and help the environment. It’s a good idea in theory, but in real life, it creates unnecessary trouble for shoppers.

Before the ordinance was ever in effect, my family bought several reusable bags and we always brought them to the grocery store. Every once in a blue moon we would forget our bags and have to use some plastic bags, but if that happened we would make sure to recycle the plastic ones.

The other day I went to the HEB at the corner of McNeil and Parmer to pick up a few things for an after-school club meeting and I ended up getting three frozen things. I headed to the checkout and rang up my items, only to find that there were no plastic bags. Not being at the regular HEB that I frequent, I had forgotten to bring any kind of reusable bags. I was forced to precariously carry out my frozen food while the condensation dripped down my arms. It was a big pain trying to get it to my meeting.

I like the fact that people care about the environment and are trying to save it. Even before the ban, people were carrying reusable bags and reducing waste. This new ban of plastic is extremely inconvenient for customers. In addition, customers will end up with too many reusable bags if they have to buy one every time you go to the store.

For other stores that don’t offer plastic bags or the option to purchase a reusable one, this ordinance is even worse. If you’re paying tons of money for the merchandise, the least the store can do is provide something to keep your new purchases in good condition for the way home.

Instead of punishing people for making an honest mistake and forgetting, they should offer rewards for those who do bring their bags. For a while, every month HEB entered everyone that brought reusable bags into a drawing for a $25 gift certificate. This encouraged people to bring their bags. If they did forget, they’d have a backup with the plastic.

In the long run, it’s a good idea to be thinking about our impact on the environment, but plastic bags from grocery stores aren’t going to make the kind of impact we really need. People need to start thinking about how to make renewable resources more realistic and how to make electric cars cheaper.