recycle plastic bagRecently, back from my hols in Mexico, I unpacked my plastic bags.  Every time I made a purchase, I got a free plastic bag to take home.  Home to England where it is the new currency.

Have you not noticed how mean we have all become with plastic bags? There was a time when I forgot the pooh bags for my dog’s walk and I would ask a neighbour for a plastic bag.

Not any more.  Such a recent misadventure cost me a future three bag forfeit.  Imagine, I saw the refusal in her eyes.  I proffered ten whole pennies. We bartered.  The final price? Three plastics in exchange for one!  I knew I was becoming mean, when I measured the said bag.  The three will be of a similar size or smaller.

carrying a pile of booksWhether you are buying clothes, food or personal items, we are now left bag less.  With the exceptions of online shopping and the local corner shop.  It’s wrong, never mind that the money is allegedly going to charity. I’m thinking of opening the Plastic Bag Foundation!

I have found a small cure.   I tip my apples and salad out of their huge plastic containers and fill it with the rest of my shopping.  I have also become known for wearing my new clothes out of the shop.  The extra socks, tend to make my shoes tight though!

condi smirkingThe imposed charge has brought out a new smug trait in the cashier.  The Bag Smirk.  It is a sense of superiority expressed at the checkout.  It happens when I have bought ten items, instead of the three that I intended when I entered the store.  As your goods reach the top of the conveyor belt, we are now asked ‘would you like a carrier? Five pence.’  You look at the flimsy, transparent offering and say NO.  It’s followed by a huge grin, the condescending one and the words ‘looks like you might need two’.  The cashier’s observation is made as I stuff my pockets and the hood of my jacket with shopping.

I refuse to use money to buy my new currency of plastic bags. I won’t even swap for a Bitcoin.

I am as green as I can be.  My plastic bags were most versatile.  They were used to flour and marinate in the kitchen, as bin liners around the house, waste bags for the food recycle bin and doggie do’s.

produce in plasticI mourn the loss of my free carrier, especially as I cannot find cardboard boxes to pack my groceries.  Is the Government legislation a triumph? Not as long as four apples are wrapped in more plastic than my flimsy freebie bag, that now cost five pence.  If the Government really wanted to make a difference they could have followed Rwanda’s example or at least insisted on minimal and alternative packaging by manufacturers.

I’mjussayin.