Plastic Bag Guilt

It is a scenario we have all become familiar with: you’re walking home when you realize “ooops! I think I run out of milk/toilet roll/whaling harpoons. Better pop into Sainsbo’s”. It being an impromptu shop you have come ill prepared – no cotton bag. Reaching the checkout you are served by an unusually chirpy assistant ‘ah, they must be new,’ you smile to yourself. Yet to have the life drained out of them, not a drone just yet. Supermarkets usually conduct lobotomies on their employees only at their first appraisal I hear.

“That’s £10.95, please”
You flash your debit card.
“Any cash-back?”
“No thanks.”
“Enter your pin please”
Punch ****
“Do you need a bag?”
“Yes please”

All of sudden you previously friendly interlocutor pulls a face as if you have just shat in Al Gore’s face.

I call this “plastic bag guilt”. Now don’t get me wrong I’m all for saving the environment, reducing waste, cutting CO2 emissions, recycling, paddy fields, polar bears, ice caps, Joan Rivers’ face yada yada yada. Hell I even voted Green in the Euro elections. But you know what? I don’t have cotton bags on my person all of the time – I barely have room in my pockets for the Holy Trinity of keys, phone, wallet. Where do you suggest that I keep a stash of canvas bags? In my underpants? This would give me impressive girth but may attract the wrong sort of attention.

In all seriousness, I do use canvas bag probably 90% of the time I go shopping and I think it is great that people are more conscious of how their habit affects the environment, but it annoys me that society has made using plastic bags THE cardinal eco-sin. It seems like people have chosen to concentrate on one of the easiest habits to change rather than confronting more challenging ones. There are so many things that we do on a day-to-day basis that have a greater adverse effect to the environment. Next time you are at the supermarket, don’t just think about your carrier bags ponder on the amount of meat you eat. Eating just one vegetarian meal a week can significantly reduce your carbon footprint. It’s actually surprisingly easy, and although I’m not ready to give up on bacon sandwiches just yet, one meal a week is barely anything. A good veggie curry - mmmmmmm.