This is an argument for not banning the supermarket plastic bag. Made by one who, for well over 20 years now, has said Thank you I do not need a bag at the checkout. Usually. By no means invariably
I do not decline them from a belief that they bear a uniquely heavy responsibility for global warming. Nor did I start declining them for the then fashionable reason that they were handed out simply to turn customers into walking advertising hoardings. Strange now to think that people, tourists, would go to Harrods to buy one small item just to acquire the status symbol of a green plastic bag
My motive was that old fashioned, now frequently derided one of thrift. I was proud to have earned first my Brownie & then the more advanced Guide badge for Thrift. I was brought up in the years after WW2 when we were careful about everything we used. It is however a very long time since I darned a sock or turned the cuffs on a shirt
Plastic bags with handles are incredibly useful. So useful that I folded them carefully, & put them in a cupboard. Until I realised that, like old fashioned wire clothes hangers, they were breeding in there
The main use I have for them now is lining the kitchen pedal bin. When full, simply tie the handles & carry to the dustbin outside. Minimises seepage, spillage & smell
A plastic bag has also virtually eliminated the problem of lost umbrellas. I was forever leaving them behind, wet, on the floor of the bus, tube or train on a rainy day. Now one sits folded inside a plastic bag in my handbag. If I have to use it, it goes back in its bag when I get on to the bus etc & I make sure it goes with me when I go
I usually used to have 1 or 2 folded in my handbag, to use either as a portable litter bin or to carry purchases home. The need for the first has been virtually eliminated by the much more wide spread availability of street litter bins, though is still very useful in a car. The latter has, ironically, been eliminated by the fact that they are now so pared down & thin that they are useless for carrying the weight of shopping for any distance greater than that from car boot to kitchen
Other uses crop up from time to time at home, so its always useful to keep a few handy
For carrying shopping I am currently well satisfied with my large sturdy Sainsburys version, price 60p, which fits folded in my handbag until required. Not one of those free ones called Bag for life. None of those ever has a gusset, so are useless for carrying bottles or anything which needs to be kept flat. I have recently discovered that it is also very useful as a cushion for sitting on when all the available outdoor seating is still wet from the rain
I can barely contain my contempt for those who walk round with some ludicrously overpriced designer thingy. A re-used Netto bag would be much more truly green. But then I suppose you would run the risk of proclaiming yourself a saddo loser, rather than the ultimate in cool priggish prattery
PRIMARK have joined the anti-plastic bandwagon by offering only brown paper bags. These unfortunately will not keep your new clothes dry on a wet afternoon in Manchester. And, as I found out the hard way, they will rip open incredibly easily if they catch on something
