I recently returned to South Lake Tahoe from Carbondale, Colo., a lovely scenic community. Before I left, however, the city had voted to ban plastic bags. Carbondale would really rather be Aspen, which had already passed the ban. I’m not sure if most residents in Aspen even know what the inside of a grocery store looks like.

For my own account, it was very inconvenient because I have a cat who uses litter bags. I also need them for wet garbage and used painting equipment.

I noticed straight away that the complexion of our trash containers at my townhouse had changed from free city market bags to large purchased plastic bags.

I am also a walker, and the trash I notice most are candy rappers, beer cans, soft drink plastic bottles and small liquor bottles.

One of the biggest annoyances was forgetting the cloth bags, in which case you would have to buy another cloth bag at the market. Occasionally,I would just take the stuff in my cart to the trunk of my car and unload.

One final thought: we are a tourist destination. People come from all over. Have you ever tried to park at Raley’s at the “Y” on a Friday afternoon, during the summer? No room even in the lower 40. Vacationers seldom remember to bring empty shopping bags.

While in Colorado, I had one saving grace, my daughter worked in El Jebel, a city close by … no ban, but you still had to remember the cloth bags when shopping in Carbondale.

Genevieve Loughran

South Lake Tahoe