Not exactly ground breaking ideas, but good suggestions for reuse all the same!
The war on the ubiquitous plastic bag began some time ago, but it was just over a year ago that Toronto joined the fight on the frontlines. Armed with a check-out charge of 5 cents per plastic bag, the city hopes the controversial bylaw will reduce the volume of flimsy one-time use shopping bags in the city’s landfills. But has it?
I can say anecdotally that I have noticed that there are fewer shoppers carrying their groceries home in plastic. And it seems that people from all walks of life are now schlepping reusable bags emblazoned with grocery store logos with them to the store.
And I can say very honestly that I feel like a real jerk if ever I have to request plastic at the check-out. I want to tell the people behind me in line that I will reuse the bag as a garbage can liner in my kitchen. I want to assure the cashier that I am trying my best to reduce my plastic bag consumption and that no, I don’t want the bag I just bought to end up in some sweet duck’s innards. I want to scream I care about the environment, but dammit the other day a pear smushed in my reusable bag and now it’s in the laundry, and I forgot to take it out of the dryer before I went to the store!
Perhaps it’s just me, but it seems as though in just a year, plastic bags in Toronto have gone from convenient to cursed. But I wonder if this is just a phase, a small blip on the behavioural change radar that won’t last?
I certainly hope not.
Because when Ontario set up a voluntary program with industry to reduce the consumption of bags by 50 per cent in 2007, data available at the time revealed that Ontarians use 7 million plastic bags a day. That works out to roughly 4 plastic bags per person each week! The issue is that these polyethylene (a solid form of oil) bags will not biodegrade, they consume energy and natural resources to manufacture and they threaten marine life if ever they were to end up in our lakes or rivers.
I hope over this past year we’ve sent fewer plastic bags to our landfills, but even if the numbers don’t blow us out of the water just yet, I think one of the biggest successes of the plastic bag charge in Toronto is that it’s increased our awareness of how important individual actions can be when it comes to preserving our planet.
The good news: we’re not the only ones with incentive policies or bans. The desire to reduce or eliminate our reliance on plastic bags is global!
And on the days we forget our reusable bags, we can find new life for them by getting a little creative. I thought the plastic bag pictured above from a small shoppe in Burlington offered some good suggestions …
I am totally obsessed with my little reusable bag that folds into a little pouch that I keep in my purse. When I don’t have it at the checkout line, I feel anxious.