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| Taken this afternoon, just across the street from my house. I rest my case. |
If you have been watching the news you will have seen a lot
of a certain senator which I shall not name, whose initials are AOC. The woman
annoys me immensely but there is one thing she said that brought up a serious issue,
the question of single-use plastic bags.
We all know this is a serious problem. The over loading of
landfills is the least of the issue. Many bags never make it to places of
disposal. We have all seen bags floating on the wind, caught in trees,
littering the streets and yards, it’s disturbing on so many levels. Even those
that end up in landfills often escape. I know kids whose summer job was to walk
around picking up bags and other trash that blew out of the land fill and ended
up on fences and bushes for miles around. Also, reports of whales and dolphins dying
recently have been connected with plastics that have found their way to the ocean.
There is no question that this is a problem we need to deal with.
See the clip here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dn70VxZixQ
Now, my first reaction to AOC’s terrible dilemma was, “Well
duh, why don’t you use reusable bags, Lady, make your actions fit your preaching.”
But ummm, wait. I can’t point any fingers here, because I don’t use reusable
bags either. I used to, but I gave up. Let me tell you why.
I had decided that I was going to do my part to keep plastic
bags out of the landfill. So, I bought some of those heavy fiber bags that the store
sells to reuse for your shopping. I do the bulk of my shopping on a weekly
basis rather than going to the store every day, for economical reasons mostly, (but
I’ll let you think that it’s so I use my car less and decrease my carbon output.)
Therefore, when I shop I have to have a lot of bags. I soon
found that using reusable bags in this situation is not the socially accepted thing
that you think it would be.
Note: I have never tried Cresbi crates so I can’t speak to
that, other than they are expensive and look cumbersome. From those
observations, I suspect they have some of the same issues that the bags do.
Problem number one:
Check out persons hate reusable bags because it interrupts their routine. I personally
had a check out man at Wall Mart by the name of Roger (I don’t know him and do
not judge him) who had a minor mental break down when he had to put my
groceries in the reusable bags. I was subjected to watching the man have a temper
tantrum as he yanked the bags open, slammed in my bananas and eggs and mumbled
under his breath. (You can’t make this stuff up.) Yeah, he had a hissy fit. Me,
being a person who hates conflict in any form, left the store slightly traumatized.
It could have ruined my day if I had not found a way to laugh about it later. I
could have spoken to the manager, who I know personally, but I did not. I let
Roger stew in his own nasty day, figuring he would be called out eventually. I
didn’t let it deter me from using my bags after that either, I just made sure
that I didn’t go to Roger’s lane. Most of the checkers were pleasant and polite,
though you could tell that it was a hassle for them to vary their routine. There
must be a reward for being fast in the world of checkers, because if you slow
them down they don’t like it.
Problem number two: The person behind you gets annoyed as well, because
it takes a minute longer. Now, I don’t really care what the person behind me
thinks, it’s none of my business and they can get over it. But, there is that
fear of conflict thing with me, and I’m very sensitive to negative vibes. I try
to avoid them.
Problem number three:
Reused bags can be unsanitary. Nobody wants to put today’s stock of celery into
last weeks blood stained meat bag. Yes, you can wash the bags. BUT … Washing
the bags makes them floppy and hard to load which makes the check-out guy even
crankier. Laundry is not my favorite pastime. Time is valuable to me. It’s a
hassle now, not just for the checker, but for me.
Problem number four:
You have to remember to have the bags with you. We all have those times when we
are out and about and remember something we need to buy at the last minute. Unless
you have your bags with you, you will be stuck. You can say to keep them in the
car at all times, but what if for some reason you are in a different car or,
heaven forbid, the bags are in the wash?
I could go on complaining about how the stupid bags are
always underfoot somewhere and blah blah blah, but you get my gist. Reusable
bags are inconvenient both physically and emotionally, which is why many people,
including myself, don’t bother with them.
What is the solution? I have a couple of ideas to put forward.
Solution number one: Design
a better bag. I have in mind a bag that is made of a lightweight durable mesh.
It should have a simple draw string handle that pulls up to carry and easily
undraws for loading. It should have some button-hole like slots on the back so
the check-out people can hang it quickly on their turntable racks just like a
plastic bag. They fill the bag and turn the table. You, or the bag person, grabs
the handle, which cinches up the bag as you put it in the cart. When you get
home, you unload your goods and throw the bag in the dishwasher. When the
dishwasher has done its thing and you unload it and put the bag, which wads up
very small, into your purse to take with you the next time. This would be convenient
for both you and the store employees.
The bag should be pretty and colorful so it is a joy to use.
Don’t slap a logo on it, I want to be able to use it anywhere without feeling
like a sandwich board. If the bag is cool enough that someone wants to know where
I got it, I will be glad to tell them.
Oh yeah, they should also be dirt cheap so anyone can afford
to buy them in whatever quantity they need.
Solution number two:
The Personal Shopping Cart This is a much more ambitious idea, but I think
it could be a great solution. It could eliminate the need for bags entirely.
Say you have a personal shopping cart that you take to the store. It could be
lightweight and expandable like luggage with wheels. You use it in the store,
knowing it has not been used by other people so it is relatively germ free, eliminating
the need for those disposable wipes you see left all over the place. You wheel
your cart to the check-out stand and put your goods on the conveyor. Then you
push your cart to the end where the checker and the bag person puts it all back
in your cart after you have paid. This is how it works now, only with a personal
cart you would not need to bag the goods. You would push your cart out to the
car, load the whole thing in the trunk and take it home. Now, the problem here is
that it might be too heavy to lift. We need an engineer to design this. Maybe
it could have a power assisted lift or some sort of jack system built in that
allows you to slide it easily into the trunk and slide it out again easily once
you get it home. It would also need to have generous sized wheels that you can
pull up the stairs and down, in case you do not have a wheelchair accessible home.
Then, when you get to your house, you wheel your cart into the kitchen and
around to various rooms to put away your goods. It could then fold up to sit by
the door, where you hang your keys on it, so you remember to take it out with
you next time you go. This, if designed well, could be the ultimate in convenience
and remove most need for disposable bags. You may want a few lightweight reusable
bags in your cart for things like fresh produce that has to be weighed and
other small items that you buy in multiples, but we talked about that above.
Does anyone else have a good idea for a solution to this
problem? Government intervention generally causes more problems than it fixes. There
is no need for useless intervention if we all put our minds together and create
solutions.
I’d love to see your comments below.
