Miss the forest for the trees? I think you're the one missing something. Get a bag and reuse it for years. What's so hard about that? Pay for a bag (plastic/paper) (plastic/paper) in a grocery store, throw it out, or pay for a bag that can be used hundreds of times a year, for years to come. I've had mine for over 5 years, still using them. Some are made of plastic, some are made of cotton or other material.
No, food doesn't have to be wrapped up. All the fruits and veggies... yeah they need to be wrapped when they aren't... lol. Look at that orange, can't have it with it's skin on, we need to peel it and sell it to you in a plastic container... yup... good use of resources. Nature already covered it up. Beans don't need to be put in plastic. Cauliflower. Broccoli. Yet some stores sell it with plastic, and some don't.
Sure, maybe some things need to be kept fresher so the store makes money, and maybe "don't buy food wrapped in plastic" seems like an absolute, but you can choose to look around and put pressure on stores to change their way of selling food. One store here, Loco, has nothing wrapped in plastic, while other stores do. It's possible to change.
I haven't been in a store that has wrapped produce. New one to me.
But i have seen stores selling meat, poultry, sushi and sandwiches covered in plastic wrap.
Good for you, using the same bag for years. Most people i have watched sorta collect bags, and throw out if they get soiled.
What i hate is people insisting that i have to buy the expensive plastic bags, because it will save the environment. While i know that more energy went into expensive plastic bag then all the cheap bags i would use. More energy means more waste to the planet.
It is not that i don't care about the environment, i do. And i make less trash than anyone i know. I repair and fix more things than anyone i know.
However, don't tell me (and force me) to do things that i know are more harmful to the environment, because... i don't know, because they sounded good when you heard them?
Paper mills are awful, smelly, chemical filled places.
Paper really shouldn't be used for bags. The only better thing about paper vs plastic is that paper breaks down under soil. Else, we are just paying more energy for less.
And as i responded to another reply. We should be burning all the trash to make energy.