Was horribly appalled by what I saw at a Cold Storage checkout today. This lady had one of those reusable bags with her, so I thought, wow, finally someone else in this country cares. Yet guess what she did?
She packed her groceries into what must have been at least 5 new plastic bags from the supermarket and then stuffed them into her fancy reusable bag!
What ludicrousness. What the hell did she need the plastic bags for? She didn’t even buy perishables – it was all well-packaged stuff!
Now, given how destructive plastic bags to the environment are, I don’t know what’s stopping the government here from introducing a levy on them. The only campaign it has come up with so far is the measly Bring Your Own Bag Day, which only applies on Wednesdays and is not even compulsory. The only store I know here which charges its customers for plastic bags is IKEA.
I also don’t understand why some people find it a hassle to bring their own bags when they shop for groceries. These bags don’t take much space, do they? Sure, sometimes we forget, but how about the rest of the time?
One thing I admire about my Mum is the fact that she never fails to carry a carrier (neatly folded, of course) in her bag everywhere she goes. I try to follow her example to cut back on my plastic bag use and I hope more people will do the same. Please think twice the next time a cashier asks you whether you need a carrier.
“The good Earth—we could have saved it, but we were too damn cheap and lazy.”
- Kurt Vonnegut, from the book A Man Without a Country
*from Earth Song. RIP Michael Jackson.
