No Plastic
We’re drowning in an ocean of plastic bags, and no matter how they were photographed in American Beauty (I could never understand why people love that movie), they’re ugly. Every time I do my general housecleaning, I throw away another hill of plastic bags. These bags will end up in landfills—as if we have land to waste on garbage—or in the sewage, where they get washed into the ocean and choke dolphins. No matter how you feel about cute aquatic creatures, plastic bags are not good. I just came from a sale at Music One, where they put my single DVD purchase (Empire of the Sun, which I’m giving my niece on her second birthday. It’s a gift that says, “In the very distant event that you’re separated from the adults, you can raise yourself.”) in a large Tower Records plastic bag folded into four. Now that’s silly. I took out the DVD, put it in my bag, and returned the plastic bag.
There’s a thought: instead of throwing away plastic bags, let’s collect them and return them to the establishments they came from. True, some of these stores will be complete dumbasses and throw them anyway, but some will have brains and re-use them. Be prepared to get strange looks when you return their plastic. That is the burden of the thinking citizens: the bafflement of the ignorant. If stores refuse to take back their plastic bags, let me know: we can try to embarrass them, and you know how highly this society prizes public opinion.
Here’s something sad: hanging onto the plastic bags of upscale stores so you can carry them around as an announcement that you shop in those places. In the first place the glamorous stores have already switched to recyclable packaging, and in the second place everyone knows what you’re thinking.
P.S. Phasing out plastic is something you have to train yourself to do. I just bought three doughnuts, and the clerk put them in a box, then put the box in a plastic bag. Why, will the box be lonely? And I took the plastic bag without thinking. So much for my plan; must habituate myself. As for the bag, Saffy is now biting it. She doesn’t eat plastic, she just likes to make holes with her fangs. I think it’s how she flosses.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
July 27th, 2008 at 17:20
I used to request baggers in SM to just give me the receipt and let me carry my shopping in my own bag. They found it ridiculous and told me it was against the store policies. I heard they now offer reusable canvas bags, but I wonder who uses them. I don’t think people actually carry those bags all the time and a trip to SM is more often than not a spur of the moment decision. Hay! Why can’t stores routinely charge shoppers for plastic bags like here in Europe? Does not eliminate the use of plastics, but surely effective to decrease their use.
July 27th, 2008 at 18:37
I’ve had the same problem, too. Salesgirls have a penchant for wrapping each item individually with a separate plastic bag. More often than not, these plastic bags aren’t really needed. I’ve been thinking, why not just use recycled paper for packaging? Is it possible to issue a law–assuming it’s going to be carried out at all–that will regulate the use of plastics?
July 27th, 2008 at 22:03
Hi. I just want to share. One time I bought DVDs from my suki (yes, pirated…sorry they’re tolerated, where I live), I brought my own bag. So when I saw my suki putting my purchases in a plastic bag, I told her I’ll just put them in my bag and not to bother with the plastic. To my surprise, she smiled and told me (in Tagalog) that I’m doing the right thing “para hindi makasira sa environment…” and that she thinks a lot of people should be doing that. While clerks in more upscale establishments would snicker at me whenever I refuse their plastic bags, my suki (who, given her “wares”, is obviously in the lower level of establishment hierarchy) appreciates this thoughtful gestures. Ironic, no?
July 27th, 2008 at 22:44
using plastic bags from high end stores is how other people recycle
July 27th, 2008 at 23:50
mahirap magshopping sa SM at gumamit ng ganoong bags. kahit nga mamili ka gamit yung mga plastic bags na ‘yan eh ichecheck pa rin ng mga guards kung ilang bags ang napaglagyan ng nabili mo, kapag sumobra, pagkakamalan ka pang mgnanakaw…kaya sa tingin ko, hindi mauuso sa pinas ang mga reusable bags. kahit saan ka pumunta at kung hindi ka mukhang mayaman, pagkakamalan kang shoplifter.
July 28th, 2008 at 06:47
schwarzenegger has banned plastic bags in california.
July 28th, 2008 at 10:01
Great idea.
You know what I noticed though? Plastic seems to be a good way to prevent erosion. Remember how those landfill hills of garbage manage to keep their shape in anything but the most serious rains? It’s because of the plastic bags. I wonder if plastic can be recycled into some sort of mulch mixed with soil to prevent erosion of topsoil in farms. Or maybe they can be used to make adobe bricks instead of straw for construction of low cost housing. The possibilities are endless.
July 28th, 2008 at 10:17
“That is the burden of the thinking citizens: the bafflement of the ignorant.”
I like this sentence, reminds me of the title of an Asimov book “The Gods Themselves.” (If memory serves me right, that is. It doesn’t, sometimes.) The title’s from Schiller– “Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain.”
People aren’t really bad, I think. Stupidity and ignorance are the real problems. There are also the over-educated idiots who, more often than not, are the ones who make decisions that affect the rest of us poor slobs. These O. E. I.’s also write textbooks, a fact that explains a lot, really.
It’s rainy AND Monday, as I write this.
July 28th, 2008 at 14:07
I am based in China and since June this year, the government implemented charging for plastic bags in retail establishments. Plastic bags now costs from about P1.50 to P10.00, depending on size and quality.
July 28th, 2008 at 22:48
Sales clerks in a number of European countries ask if you need a plastic bag or not.
I agree, American Beauty is overrated.
I found it contrived and manipulative.
July 29th, 2008 at 00:25
Tama si royal spence. Mata-pobre ang mga sikyo at tindera sa mall. Karamihan naman sa mga Pilipino mahihirap. Ano yan, self-loathing?
July 29th, 2008 at 04:08
It’s the culture dominated by the rich, upper classes that’s mata-pobre and the poor jaguars and salesladies under their employ are understandably beholden to abide (consciously or subconciously) by that culture. I just love it when discussion of the most benign topics somehow transmutes into a class war. The use of plastic shopping bags as anecdotal evidence of the continued stratification of our neo-colonial society.
July 29th, 2008 at 14:11
It’s our duty to mock and deflate the rich and powerful, but let’s not get sentimental about the poor.
July 29th, 2008 at 20:03
I was without internet connection for the past 3 days so forgive me for the delayed comment. And I cannot help but comment because 5 minutes after reading the entry I am still thinking how I can be part of the solution when I have a cabinet full of plastic bags. The only reason why I have this cabinet full of them is because I don’t want to throw them as they will just clog the drains.
Looking back, plastic bags are only useful on one occasion (for me that is): during swimming outings so I can still bring home my wet clothes. Now, I am stuck with a cabinet full of plastics with no wet clothes.
Salesladies probably are not aware. They just know that they have to keep using plastic bags. No brain involved. I don’t think we should blame them either. They’ve got other stuff in their minds.
How about like an ATM machine where we can deposit our plastics and we can like accumulate points, so much like the idea of…SM advantage card!
July 30th, 2008 at 07:25
Our city council over here passed a measure for a plastic shopping bag fee.
http://current.com/items/89146553_seattle_city_council_approves_plastic_shopping_bag_fee
July 30th, 2008 at 14:34
Tesco’s supermarkets in England lets you return used plastics for recycling. When I used to live there, I’d make sure that I return the plastic bags. They actually have a specific area by the supermarket’s entrance where you could just put these. Also, they offer biodegradable shopping bags that they call Bag for Life. It’s really durable and the good thing is, they give you discounts to basic commodities when you purchase these bags. Now that I’m living here in California, I find it ridiculous that big supermarkets still use plastic bags! There’s actually a bill at the CA Assembly to add tax to plastic bags to keep people from using them. I’m just not sure if this is the best way to promote “Being Green” in CA. Enough said.
July 31st, 2008 at 22:49
Is there some recycling center in manila? I try to find those “bote-dyaryo” people and actually give them my recyclables (Yay, charity plus eco-consciousness, hehe.) but they’re not regular. Lalo na with paper. In St Luke’s where I used to train there were tons of paper and I thought of collecting them for recycling purposes but I hesitated coz sa akin na tatambak yun. Limited din ung licing space ko. Also, sometimes, the bote-dyaryo peeps go to the next level and as for a hand-out na. I apparently have more than they do but I don’t have an endless financial source. That’s why I’d love to be rich enough not to care how I spend my money.
August 1st, 2008 at 09:45
I get the weird looks to whenever I refuse my plastic bags in 7-11.
Oh. And Empire of the Sun? For your 2-year old niece? Man, I wish you were my aunt! Mine just keeps nudging me into taking New Age thingies.