Guldasta

That’s it. No more plastic bags for me.

For the last few months I have practised saying “no bags please” at the checkout counter. That usually produces raised eyebrows and amused smiles. On one occasion the missing plastic bag raised more than an eyebrow. The security got alarmed as I walked out, my hands full of stuff I had purchased. I was stopped and asked to produce my purchase bills. Clearly, for the security, the plastic bag was a symbol of legitimate purchase  🙂

But on a few occasions I have been guilty of bringing home a plastic bag. So, starting today, I am going completely off the circuit. Come what may, I am not participating in the plastic bag menace that is choking our drains, killing our cows and slowly murdering our planet.

And I am not buying the argument that the problem is with people because they do not recycle the bags. First, in my country the recycle machinery does not exist. Second, anything that needs more than a 1000 years to decompose has no place in our lives. I wish I could remove plastic totally from my life. But that is impractical as of now because for some things there is no viable alternative. But the least I can do is get rid of the plastic that exists as shopping bags.

So, how am I going to bring home all that stuff from the market? I will carry durable cloth bags every time I go shopping. Certainly, this will result in uncomfortable situations. I might forget the bag and realise this only at the counter. Or maybe the shop will not allow me to bring in my own bags. But that is not going to stop me from sticking to my promise.

And also, I am not rushing to throw out the existing plastic bags in my house. Since I have been shy of dumping them in the waste without sufficient reuse, I have quite a stack in a drawer. I am going to REUSE each of them to the very last and only then discard them.

Maybe it is time they changed the warning on the bags from “keep away from children” to “keep away from the planet”.

.
– – – Further reading – – –

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1974750.stm
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/09/0902_030902_plasticbags.html