| Product: |
Waste disposal |
| Date: |
29.03.08 (97 review reads) |
| Rating: |
 |
Advantages: Will cut down landfill
Disadvantages: Some folk will get annoyed
I feel like a good rant against free plastic shopping bags!
When they were first supplied in shops and given away free, they changed the sensible way in which shoppers had been operating for decades. Fifty years ago, if you wanted to go shopping fo groceries, you brought with you a couple of purpose-made shopping bags, made from materials that would last for hundreds of trips. You generally knew roughly how much stuff you were going to get, and took enough bags with you.
Now I know that sometimes you go shopping and buy something you hadn't planned to get when you went out. That's part of the fun of going out! But it's not hard to have an extra bag or two with you. We always now keep four or five bags in the boot of the car. They can all pack inside each other, and way almost nothing, so it's not a big deal to carry them.
People who always take free plastic bags and then chuck them away are highly irresponsible. Many plastic bags are non-biodegradable - we simply do not know how long they will remain in the soil when they go into landfill. Some better bags decompose within three or four years.
It's obviously urgent that action is taken. It's not very significant that some people try to reuse bags, but it's at least a start. What is needed is a change across the board from all retailers.
Now, we do need bags sometimes for shopping. Most things are packaged like a raincoat in Fort Knox, though, and so if you have no bag and can carry the stuff to your car or bicycle or taxi without a bag and without dropping it, then why have a bag?
To encourage us to come prepared, then a significant charge should be made for plastic bags issued in shops. Tesco make a tiny nod in this direction by giving you a Clubcard point for every bag you bring into the shop and use. I think a charge of 25p for every bag issued would soon sort things out. Another good scheme is done by both Tesco and Waitrose, who sell you a "Bag for Life" for 10p. If it breaks, they replace it. Asda now sell hessian shopping bags, but unless these shops charge big-time for plastic bags, WITH THE MONEY BEING CHANNELED INTO SUPPORTING RECYCLING, then these will only have a small impact. Furthermore, every bag issued should be biodegradable.
Changing the world is never easy, but let's get on with it! First off, we should all try to be organised and carry a few bags around whenever it is likely that we will go shopping, also keeping some spares in the car, or in handbags, etc. Secondly, watch the shop assistant, and stop them from putting your purchase into a bat if you don't need one. They have been trained by their managers to bag all purchases because of the advertising, so they reach for a bag on autopilot. Stop them - take the purchases - AND A RECEIPT! - say thank you, I don't need a bag, and leave them to think.
Some shops start to get this right by asking whether you would like a bag. The best answer is, "No, thank you, I don't need one!"
Summary: No more free bags - charge at least 25p and have them all biodegrable
|
|
