We're still using far too many plastic bags

Every week I am amazed at the amount of plastic bags that are used in supermarkets. Using 10 to 15 bags to carry the weekly shopping is no exception. When unloading the trolley, cashiers place a big pack of plastic bags on the counter for shoppers to use. When I start packing my things in the two large linen shopping bags that I bring, they seem surprised.

Buying fruit and vegetables from the hawker? The apples go in a plastic bag, the tomatoes go in a plastic bag, the grapes go in a plastic bag, the zucchini go in a plastic bag, the potatoes go in a plastic bag... And then everything goes in yet another plastic bag. Another 10 plastic bags! True, many plastic bags are being re-used as bin-liners but really, how many bags can one use in this way in a week?

I remember that around two years ago, a nominal fee was introduced for each plastic shopping bag. It seems that the supermarkets have absorbed these costs because it does not seem that people are being charged for using plastic bags. I think this was a missed chance to reduce our "plastic bag dependency".

Plastic bags get dumped everywhere and sometimes we hear stories in the news of sea turtles that get entangled in plastic bags, sustaining serious injuries, sometimes to the extent that body parts need to be amputated. Fish, such as dolphins, and also birds are harmed by dumped plastic bags (they eat the bags or get entangled in them). While it is true that plastic bags are being recycled, the costs of recycling the plastic bags are much higher than what the plastic bags are eventually being sold for. Furthermore, oil is required for producing most plastic bags, so using plastic bags on a large scale is not helping to reduce our oil dependency.

Taking a linen shopping bag to the supermarket or hawker, and simply keeping one in the car (for when you need to pop round to the supermarket on the way home from work) is a relatively small change to make and will really help the environment. In The Netherlands, we had a slogan a few years ago: A better environment starts at home. One sometimes feels that a person alone can't bring about much change, but every single person who starts using linen shopping bags would already save quite an amount of plastic bags in a year, let alone in a lifetime.