Plastic bags are convenient, but they end up everywhere: discarded on the streets, stuck in the trees, in the landfills. I occasionally help out at my parents’ store and it boggles me how many people want a plastic bag for the most minuscule of items; a bag of Doritos, a toothbrush, a can of Coke can all be held, pocketed, or just thrown into your purse. And don’t get me started on the people that ask for a plastic bag for their little whatever just to stick that plastic bag into their book bag or purse. At the end of the day, even if these people reuse their plastic bags for other purposes (ie. liners for their trash cans), they’re still going to end up at a landfill.
Most people make trips to the convenience store and go straight home. Sure, it might be unsightly carrying a roll of Bounty down the street but the truth is, no one cares. Imagine if every person foregoes a plastic bag for small things – like Bounty, toothpaste, etc – at their local Walgreens or deli, and how much we could subsequently reduce plastic consumption; or on a greater scale, if plastic bags were banned and/or taxed (which was proposed in NYC and then… nothing happened). Dozens of countries in Europe and Asia have already implemented such bans/taxes, and the entirety of the U.S. should follow in their steps, not just NYC.
‘What about the people buying a lot of things?! You want them to carry ten items in their arms?’ No, but the whole point of banning/taxing plastic bags is to reduce the amount of plastic consumption in our lives so we could live more sustainably. In turn, people should start using reusable bags, which can be bought for literally less than $1, and can be bought in bulk, so there should be no complaints about not having enough bags for your trip to the supermarket.
The point is there is no excuse to not use reusable bags. By using reusable bags, you are helping save the environment (aka no plastic bags stuck in trees and streams, hurting the ecosystem and the animals in it) and you don’t have to come home with dozens of plastic bags, which will one day sit in a landfill for thousands of years to come.
Hey Vicki,
I totally agree that there is no reason people can’t carry around collapsable reusable bags. I think plastic bags exemplify one of the many problems our way of packaging goods harms the environment. Single use plastics, like plastic bags, but also like toothpaste tubes, and toothbrushes, are some of the most difficult objects to recycle, if they are recyclable at all. However, the blame doesn’t fall squarely on the consumer here. Companies that produce goods like deodorants and shampoos for example, should be held responsible for produce products using sustainable or recycled packages. This field of sustainable packaging design is quite new, but this podcast does a good job of explaining how difficult it is to be a completely conscious consumer today: https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/national-sword/
The amount of plastic that is produced every single second is mind-blowing to be completely honest. Due to its cheap manufacturing cost, it is now the most used product for bags and packaging. Realistically, some people are just lazy, which is why they ask for a plastic bag for the most little items as you mentioned. Others may use it for garbage or actual productive means. While these plastic bags may end up at the landfill, not many think of how much plastic is within our ocean. Last week, I had to do a presentation in my environment class on plastic pollution within our oceans. There are literally patches of plastic that are almost the size of states, that float within oceans. Not only that, marine animals consume so much micro-plastic and mistake it for prey. Did you know that 1 in 4 fish purchased contain plastic within them? That fact alone is wild. It’s crazy how polluted our ocean is due to plastic bags, and how animals die to either consumption or entanglement. Turtles dying from straws is HUGE topic nowadays. Many people make memes about it, however, what is actually being done to mitigate the issue? It’s frustrating to say the least when discussing the issue of plastic.