Very Cranky About the New Plastic Bag Law in Austin.

I live in Austin, Texas.  The Austin City Council saw fit to pass a new law that starting in Feb 2013 local retailers cannot provide single use bags to their customers.  They can provide more expensive/thicker bags to customers if they want to but they can't provide the current sort of plastic bags that we all get at the grocery store today.  Apparently paper bags are a no-no too.  I had a discussion with the guy who runs the liquor store near my home about that - his store will have to send you home with a box of booze or you have to buy a cloth bag from them (or bring your own) if you want your booze in a bag. 

I don't fully understand all the details of this annoying new law but I am sure I will when I show up at a store, having forgotten my cloth bags, only to be told that I have to carry an armful of purchases to my car without the aid of a carrying device.

Here is the thing, I am all for reducing waste, and normally I use my cloth bags when grocery shopping because, quite frankly, they are easier to manage than the plastic ones. But as the owner of several dogs it occurred to me the other day that without the plastic bags that we get at the grocery store we have nothing with which to clean up our dog poop.  This is a serious problem.  

I mean what are dog owners supposed to do about cleaning up poop without plastic bags? Do we have to buy special bags? Are we expected to use our hands (never gonna happen)? Or perhaps we are expected to put diapers on our dogs?  Did anyone think of this when City Council was mulling over this politically correct yet impractical law?

I wonder if I am going to have to drive to convenience stores just outside Travis county to make small purchases that will be given to me in plastic bags just so I can get bags to clean up after my pets.  I am now actively NOT using my cloth bags at the grocery store so I can collect and hoard plastic bags for the express purpose of picking up dog poop.  I wonder if anyone else is doing the same thing or has the same concerns? 

All I know is that wondering if I won't be able to find anymore plastic bags for dog poop starting next month is making me very very cranky.  And I predict that in neighborhoods all over Austin you will find more dog poop in parks and common areas because if plastic bags aren't easy to obtain some people will leave that shit on the ground.  It's going to be a stinky spring around here....