Stupid Plastic Grocery Bags
This post is in response to something Lucy Pepper wrote on her site Blogriza. It's amazing to me just how many of these damned things accumulate over time. Can you recycle them? I guess I just assumed you couldn't, my bad. But what Lucy says is definitely true, they are evil and wrong. I'll admit that when I lived in the States I had a cache of them in my pantry, waiting for the end of time I suppose since that's about how long it takes for one to degrade. However, since I've lived in the Netherlands I always bring a canvass bag with me when I go grocery shopping. Part of my conversion was fueled by the necessity of having to pay for plastic bags at the store, but I've come to really treasure my little canvass bag and the slight moral superiority (imagined of course) that it affords me. In the U.S. one might get the impression that there is some sort of monetary incentive for shops to give the things away judging by the trigger like reflexes the clerks and cashiers have when it comes to whipping them out. Bought more than one item, then you're sure to get a "do you want a bag with that?" For a pack of smokes and a coke, no thanks, I think I can handle it. Then there are the baggers a the grocery who always double bag everything as a matter of course. Drives me nuts, when the guy has just used two bags for a loaf of bread and another two for my eggs. But not anymore, I've got my trusty canvass bag. I would like to see grocery stores in the U.S. implement a cost per bag scheme, perhaps the money could go to landfill management or something. Stupid things.
posted by JC at 1:30 PM
4 Comments:
i have always had these same thoughts. u.s. should definitely charge for plastic bags. imagine the outrage. bring your own bag!! i always use a canvas bag here in the u.s. if i sometimes forget it or know that i am buying something small clerks look at me in amazement as i stop them from placing my items in a bag("i don't need a bag, thank you") and ask "are you sure?" sometimes even asking twice. how could i possibly make it all the way to my car without a bag?! different of course in some places where there is more often used public transportation. but in this city/country always a car parked not that far away. even at the stores where they promote bringing your own bag(wild oats, trader joe's) they are surprised. why? they don't even know why. because everytime they have ever bought anything anywhere it was bagged, or double bagged sometimes item by item. stop the insanity. aaaaaaa. the companies could use the saved money to help everyone buy a super bling set of gold teeth. then we might do it. hell i'll promote that. shiiiiit
It just amazes me because everybody I've ever talked to seems to feel the same way about them, but at the same time you always get a weird look when you bring your own bag. At least in America anyway, land of the dispoable lifestyle. Just throw it in the garbage, then it's someone else's problem.
we just need to keep on bugging them with our moral (not imagined!) superiority at the checkout... feign great surprise when they offer us a plazzy bag... loudly!
:) keep up the canvassing, jc!
JC, you strike a very important chord in the world of retail, including groceries. The problem exists, as I see it, for two important reasons: 1) It's the way that retail has "always been done", going back to the early days of mom n' pop shops (providing an easy way for patrons to carry out their goods), and as we all know, tradition DIES HARD. And 2) it's a fantastic (those despicable) way for retailers to get their brand out in the world; it's free advertising, although how successful it is now is anybody's guess, since we've (sadly) become so immune to the inundation of ads. everywhere.
In addition, there's another sociological problem at work here: the entry-level employees (myself included; one stint at B&N, and a current one at Border's) are trained to NOT ask, but simply prepare a bag, even for ONE item. Why? Because again, brand-recognition, and also, in the corporate minds, "everyone else" is doing it. Would THEY be the first retail to require bags to be optional, or banned altogether for their customers w/only a few items? They shudder at the horror. In this "elitist wannabe" type of living, why would we ever think to carry something in our hands, when we can utilize a tool instead?
In addition, I'm not entirely sure that charging for plastic bags will be the cure. When I lived in South Korea for a year, the major retailers DID charge for bags, and we took notice. In fact, it changed our shopping habits, and we began to bring back our bags, to reuse. All of this is GOOD, and it's a start; however, we didn't think twice when we needed to purchase some again after forgetting the originals at home (thus continuing to use bags), and I suspect it'd have an even smaller impact here in the states - the bags cost us a mere $0.25 cents, and I'd wager it'd be even less here; and no one who's spending $3.00 or more is going to think twice about adding another 10 to 15 cents for a bag. Well, not the majority, at least.
So, what to do? Bring canvas bags; bring in plastic bags; carry out as much as possible w/out a bag; and remember that in the mantra of "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle", recycle is the LAST option - stop the demand is the first. And of course, spread the word that they ARE in fact recyclable, and do just that.
--Cautiously Optimisic (it won't let me sign in and post, for some reason; stupid Beta)
Post a Comment
<< Home