Plastic grocery bags can be repurposed, yes. But for use, not to be recycled or rather reconstructed into renewable forms of plastic. It’s not just grocery bags either. Some plastics are recyclable, most are actually not. I repurpose my grocery bags too, when I occasionally get them. I’m not sure why some here believe having reusable grocery bags is considered third-world. It would be like comparing any reusable item like shoes, clothes, as reusable and saying that’s third world. If you get the right ones, they’re easy to wash.
My grandmother use to get these old cloth bags, big enough to hold three gallon jugs, and got the idea from her church, I believe. Conservatives use to actually care about recycling all the way back in the mid 80s. At least in my state. They were the ones that pushed for more recycle facilities and even helped get us separate recycle cans by early 2000s. And while I understand that maybe a large percentage of recycled materials is actually just thrown into garbage dumps anyway, I still respect the idea of offering the service and even improving upon it both at the production level and the disposing level.
Doesn’t mean I’m going to bite your head off if I see you use plastic bags at grocery stores or use a plastic straw. But at the same time, being a conservative doesn’t just mean giving no shit about the land nor what is put in it or taken out; as well as being unable to adapt and being just offended when things are changed.
I get it tho, plastic bags for non-reusable (if even usable) paper straws is nonsense but pretending all plastic is created equal, when it’s not, is just displaying ignorance.