Fuck it, make it interscholastic! (A rant on plastic)

I probably should have written this as soon as I got home, as I’ve since had a little sleepy and some lush foods (M&S Sweet Pumpkin and Amaretti Biscuit Ravioli, far nicer than it sounds), I feel less like ranting.

I spent some time in Reading town centre this weekend. On Saturday lunchtime and Sunday afternoon. I realised there are still an awful lot of people using plastic bags. For years and years my Mum has taken her own bags to the supermarket, I just sort of stopped noticing bag usage. Or maybe I never paid any attention in the first place. I do know it’s only now becoming easier to say “I don’t need a bag thanks”. There have been a number of occasions where I’ve had my canvas bag/rucksack/old plastic bag ready and waiting while the cashier paid no attention and thrust my goods into a new and completely pointless plastic bag. Sometimes I’d take my purchases out and make a big deal of putting them in my own bag. Most often though I’d just sigh and resign myself to getting another future bin liner.

I looked at the people scuttling around, arms laden with plastic. It’s madness! One woman had one of those over-sized handbags that were all the rage last year, it looked almost empty. Yet she had what was probably a eye-shadow and a bottle of perfume in a plastic bag. WHY?! I just don’t get it. Not only is that plastic bag pointless and a symbol of doom, but surely it would be easier to carry just one bag? The more I looked around, the more I felt like the odd one out; having not one, but THREE canvas bags in use. I ended up buying one in Waterstones as even though I’d taken an old plastic bag out with me I realised all my canvas bags are huge and their ones are more conveniently sized. The killer came as I left M&S, a family walked past me loudly declaring their disgust that they’d been charged 5p for a plastic bag! Apparently it’s disgusting as plastic bags should be free, they always were and this particular family would be shopping elsewhere in future. The fact that the goods they bought could have easily fitted inside the mother’s handbag didn’t even cross their tiny little minds. I despaired. Openly. They glared. Good, it proves they heard me.

I’m sure reading ‘Crap At The Environment‘ has had an influence on me noticing these things. I chuckled when reading about Mark’s tussles with Kevin at the checkout. The idea of counting how many “I don’t need a bag thank you”s in a day was something I’d already done myself! I don’t want to come across as preachy here as I’m as guilty of plastic ownership as the next person. I have a whole host of Vinyl figures for a start. However, I am a total hoarder and this makes it slightly easier to justify as I try to save my plastic treasures from ever going to landfills. I even take discarded disposable lighters just so they don’t end up floating around Midway. Instead they float around in a box on my floor. I haven’t noticed any dead waterfowl around them though… yet.

For a short while I tried to influence my friends; get them to buy refillable lighters, use their bags instead of plastic carriers. I’ve given up now. It seems that those who care are already doing something and those who don’t care can’t be made to care. Unfortunately much as the apple-haters are now more fanboyistically annoying than the original Apple-ites, being anti-environmentalist is the new cool I often hear the younger generations claiming it all to be nonsense, why should they care anyway, it’s all going to happen long after they’re gone. I simply cannot understand this viewpoint. I want to scream at them “BUT IT’S ALREADY HAPPENING!” I know they’d take no notice though, declaring me a tree-hugger and sneering. They should also learn that once things start to change they can do so at an unimaginable rate.

While I’m on the subject of such things, if anyone knows where I can buy (wholesale) biodegradable packaging for the jewellery I make please let me know! UK based is best. Thanks!