“Every Little Helps!”
According to a piece in the Metro newspaper (9th February 2007), 6 billion carrier bags weighing a massive 40,000 tonnes were wasted by Britons last year – enough to cover London. Researchers have found that the average adult discards 2.39 bags a week, and that 42 per cent fail to recycle carrier bags. They added that one in ten people accept a bag for an item they will consume immediately and then throw it away seconds later.
I admit that as a consumer, I have a tendency to hoard objects, and these include carrier bags as well as numerous other items which are, in all likelihood, useless; but I still collect them and clutter up my house with bits and bobs which may come in handy one day.
I see plastic bags as a convenience of modern life, having been surrounded by plastic ephemera for as long as my humble existence. The main reason that plastic carrier bags from supermarkets are collected is so I can re-use them as bin-liners, which makes rubbish day much easier when it comes round. My household, on average, produces one black bag of rubbish weekly, and each room in my house, from the living room to the kitchen, the bedrooms to the bathrooms has a rubbish bin, each lined with a supermarket plastic bag. Plastic bags are only disposed of when they are no longer practical for use: if they are torn or punctured or if they are dirty so cannot be used to contain clean items and keep them that way. I actually think that my household is quite good with re-using whatever can be re-used; it is against our nature and habits to be wasteful, that principle has been drilled into our heads since youth. Hence the hoarding and the reluctance to part with junk.
We also try to recycle what we can: paper, glass, tins etc. But there is so much packaging that accompanies products bought; these are thrown away because there are no facilities that enable the recycling of these usually plastic items. Plastic is a useful compound as it can be engineered to specialised specifications, such as being strong or flexible, or airtight and watertight and therefore hygienic. However, there are positive steps being taken to reduce waste in packaging. For example, Asda supermarkets are in the process of trialling a move back to the 1950s, where fruit and vegetables are sold loose, without the need for plastic packaging. Many other supermarkets are reviewing their packaging policy, pledging to reduce the amount of packaging used in an attempt to come across as more ‘eco-friendly’ and reduce their environmental impact. This is a start in the right direction, but in the big picture more factors need to be considered and taken into account to make their efforts worthwhile, and to make more of a noticeable difference. It is a big challenge facing us all, to make changes in our ways of living and break the habits of a lifetime.
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article2177993.ece
According to a piece in the Metro newspaper (9th February 2007), 6 billion carrier bags weighing a massive 40,000 tonnes were wasted by Britons last year – enough to cover London. Researchers have found that the average adult discards 2.39 bags a week, and that 42 per cent fail to recycle carrier bags. They added that one in ten people accept a bag for an item they will consume immediately and then throw it away seconds later.
I admit that as a consumer, I have a tendency to hoard objects, and these include carrier bags as well as numerous other items which are, in all likelihood, useless; but I still collect them and clutter up my house with bits and bobs which may come in handy one day.
I see plastic bags as a convenience of modern life, having been surrounded by plastic ephemera for as long as my humble existence. The main reason that plastic carrier bags from supermarkets are collected is so I can re-use them as bin-liners, which makes rubbish day much easier when it comes round. My household, on average, produces one black bag of rubbish weekly, and each room in my house, from the living room to the kitchen, the bedrooms to the bathrooms has a rubbish bin, each lined with a supermarket plastic bag. Plastic bags are only disposed of when they are no longer practical for use: if they are torn or punctured or if they are dirty so cannot be used to contain clean items and keep them that way. I actually think that my household is quite good with re-using whatever can be re-used; it is against our nature and habits to be wasteful, that principle has been drilled into our heads since youth. Hence the hoarding and the reluctance to part with junk.
We also try to recycle what we can: paper, glass, tins etc. But there is so much packaging that accompanies products bought; these are thrown away because there are no facilities that enable the recycling of these usually plastic items. Plastic is a useful compound as it can be engineered to specialised specifications, such as being strong or flexible, or airtight and watertight and therefore hygienic. However, there are positive steps being taken to reduce waste in packaging. For example, Asda supermarkets are in the process of trialling a move back to the 1950s, where fruit and vegetables are sold loose, without the need for plastic packaging. Many other supermarkets are reviewing their packaging policy, pledging to reduce the amount of packaging used in an attempt to come across as more ‘eco-friendly’ and reduce their environmental impact. This is a start in the right direction, but in the big picture more factors need to be considered and taken into account to make their efforts worthwhile, and to make more of a noticeable difference. It is a big challenge facing us all, to make changes in our ways of living and break the habits of a lifetime.
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article2177993.ece
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