[55555]

If I’m not mistaken this is ecologically basically a paper bag that looks like a plastic bag. Remember when we all switched from paper bags to plastic bags to save the environment? The environmental issue isn’t plastic bags, it’s that you don’t reuse them.

[IAmBroom]

Nope, and I'm 60. AFAICT we switched because plastic bags were far stronger, and didn't fail immediately if they got damp.

[55555]

Right. Plastic bags could be re-used, even after getting damp and because they wouldn't rip. So industry switched to them to be more environmentally friendly, and then after a while, no one actually re-used the bags, making them perhaps better in theory but ultimately worse in practice. I don't have the life experience you have but ChatGPT tells me this was a major reason.