Please don’t stop the Music

Today’s story about plastic bags in the Herald really got me fuming. It is simply unfathomable that 100 BILLION plastic bags are used in the United States every year. It is simply disgusting that less than 1% of these are recycled. It gets even more depressing when you learn that over 12 million barrels of oil are used to produce those bags. Before you can say that that’s just a symptom of the grotesque profligacy of the Land of the Free, it’s not that much better here, with an estimated use of over 1.4 billion bags every year.The problem with plastic bags, other than their quite obvious environmental implications, is that their use is entirely without cost or consequence to the uber-consumers that we have become. They’re free in almost every establishment in this country, except Pak’N'Save; they are not regulated, or taxed. They are a just used and turfed and it means nothing.

What made me most angry, though, was the silver tongue of complacency of Paul curtis, of the Packaging Council of New Zealand:

“Taking a bag may fast be becoming the crime of the century but what would we do without them?”

I’ll tell you what we’d bloody do: we would take a serious look at the consequences of our actions and use an alternative. The “Make a Difference” campaign of Foodstuffs and Progressive Enterprises has all but failed. Tellers can not be relied upon to gently remind us no to use plastic bags; I have to literally restrain the teller at my local from putting my things into a bag. Moreover, consumers cannot generally be trusted to make a less convenient choice when the more convenient choice is consequence free; the market simply doesn’t work that way. Either vendors need to start charging their customers for plastic bags, and pass the impact of the bags onto consumers, or the industry needs to be regulated and taxed to discourage plastic bag use. Instead, Curtis lulls us into a false sense of security by assuring us that being quietly reminded not to use plastic bags will solve the problem; that thinking twice is better than paying the price.

Anyway, since nothing is likely to happen in this country about this issue, here are my own experiences and tips on plastic bag use:BUY ALTERNATIVES: Cloth and recycled plastic bags, both of which are eminently reuseable, are cheap and reliable. I have had mine for over 6 years and they still work perfectly.

PLAN AHEAD: Make a habit to sit down and make a shopping list, and get your cloth bags out of the pantry or cupboard when you do. Not only will you start to get into the habit of taking them, but you will probably save money: people who use and stick to shopping lists generally spend less money at the supermarket.

DON’T PACK YOUR VEGES OR FRUIT IN PLASTIC: Do you REALLY need to pack each different type of vegetable into a plastic bag? Think about it: 10 types of fruit and veges means ten extra bags – as many again as you would get for your total grocery trip.

BE PREPARED: Keep a cloth bag in your car for small unplanned trips to the supermarket – that was the real killer for me.

REFUSE PLASTIC: If you are asked whether or not you want a plastic bag (which you probably won’t be, but hey), just say no. It’s actually very easy, and it’s one less plastic bag that will end up in the rubbish.