environment
Environmentally friendly alternatives are available and can save you money
19.02.09 - 17:31 -
GOING GREEN Cloth bags replace plastic in a greengrocers
It is a scene that is becoming more and more commonplace, a young girl is buying bread in her local bakers, the assistant offers her a plastic bag for her purchase, “ No thanks,” she says, “I have my own bag.”
“It happens all the time, more people bring their own bags from home or just take the bread wrapped in paper or cloth bags like we used to use”. explained the shop assistant.
In some supermarkets, such as DIA, the customers know that they will have to pay for any plastic bags they use, so they come armed with their own. Many older customers use the bags on wheels, the younger ones use backpacks, pushchairs have shopping baskets loaded aboard.
The desire to be environmentally aware and the convenience of re-usable bags, stronger, more capacious and easier to carry, means more people are using them than ever. It is not only the prospect of having to pay for your plastic bags that is making people change their shopping habits. We have become more conscious of the polluting qualities of plastic and of its ugliness as it blows around our streets and countryside. How much nicer to have a straw basket or a designer carrier bag, or one with a slogan to encourage others down the same path.
The supermarkets are quick to pick up the public mood and most now sell their own re-usable bags or at least biodegradable alternatives to the plastic models. Garden centres offer cardboard cartons to carry your plants and many shops are substituting recycled paper bags. “Green” bags are definitely in, so you can be cool and save the planet!
