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November 2, 2005
Paper or Plastic
I have written elsewhere about the fact that I can become emotionally attached to sturdy plastic bags from cool places like the British Library, but I have not yet said much about my efforts to prevent people from putting any and everything I purchase into those flimsy plastic bags that have THANK YOU stamped on them multiple times, and get thanklessly and endlessly caught in the branches of trees. "I don't need another bag; I'll just put that spool of thread in my backpack," I say to the cashier, which seems to me a perfectly reasonable decision on my part, but sometimes they look at me as if I had revealed myself as a marsupial intent on transporting my purchases in a pouch designed to accommodate my very young offspring.
I also ask the person bagging my groceries to refrain from giving me any bags that contain only one thing. I really do hate that, when they put the eggs in a bag by themselves. And when I object, they get all defensive: "But I don't want your eggs to get smashed!" they say.
"The eggs won't get smashed if all you put on top of them is three bananas and a loaf of bread," I say. I also bring in these capacious fishnet shopping bags my mother gave me years ago; when asked "Paper or plastic?" I say, "Uh, actually, I'd like you to get as many of my groceries as you can in these," and some people actually ROLL THEIR EYES at me, like there's something objectionable about passing up an opportunity to consume and discard cheap plastic goods.
Excessive and instantly disposable packaging: one of the great evils of the world. It wastes resources and clogs already overflowing landfills. I'm waging a personal war against it, but I don't see much success.
Posted by holly at November 2, 2005 5:16 AM
Holly, I hope you can take heart from the story of plastic bags in Ireland. In the republic people were also tired of seeing thin plastic shopping bags stuck in trees, hedgerows and so on. After a lot of debate the government decided to tax these thin plastic bags at the point of sale to the end customer. Within a few months the thin plastic bag was GONE - from people's homes, from the hedgerows, everywhere. Now it is perfectly normal for people to bring their own bags to the store and supermarkets offer a variety of reusable, sturdy alternatives to plastic.
I do take heart from your story--thank you, thank you for sharing it! I think Americans are too addicted to convenience to make a change like that any time soon, but someday, perhaps, someday!
Among the first plastic bags I felt strongly about were two very sturdy, serviceable bags from Sainsbury's, for which I had to pay three pence each when I was living in England in 1984. I not only hauled those bags to Sainbury's every time I went grocery shopping so I could bring my groceries back home, I also took the bags to Taiwan with me, and used them to haul stuff around the island every time I got transferred. One of the bags is displayed in a photo taken of me the day I left the town where I fell through the neighbor's kitchen roof and broke my rib.... I get a nice, tender feeling in my chest every time I contemplate the bag, which almost compensates for the nasty choking sensation in my throat whenever I think about that whole fall-from-grace thing.
The bags served me well for years--and I mean YEARS--but eventually, I had to throw them away.