Tuesday 5 August 2008

Green is the new Orange

I had to go shopping yesterday. I needed a new electric razor (I seem to manage to trash them at the rate of about one a year), and as I was down to my last ready meal, I decided I might as well get some groceries too.

Today, due to this clever foresight, I am not sitting here bearded and starving, but in addition, I am also now the proud owner of some green plastic bags, which cost me the princely sum of 30p:


Orange is the New Green

Now, I know exactly what you're thinking. The obvious question. What on earth am I doing parting with good money for green plastic bags? Or were you going to ask what is so green about these particular ones?

To answer your second question, these are "bags for life". The idea is that you use them every time you go to the supermarket, so that you don't have to keep using the free disposable ones, and they don't end up in a landfill somewhere. When they wear out, you get free replacements.

Which still leaves the first question. I'm not exactly Mr Enviromentally Friendly, and 30p is 30p. Well, the answer is that it's all Helena's fault. I was complaining at the weekend about how weak the free bags are, and she said that I should buy some of the better ones, that they didn't break, and you could reuse them. She said her mum thinks they're great and is always buying them.

"What's the point of that?", I asked, "she must keep forgetting to take the ones she already has back to the shop, which is exactly what I'd do. No, I'm going to stick with using the free ones."

Whilst I was packing my shopping, Helena went off to another till and bought a couple of "bags for life". She loves having her own money, as it gives her the power to ignore me when I say "no". I put them in the boot, and forgot to take them to the shop with me yesterday. So I bought three more, and the five should be enough for most shopping trips.

I still have my doubts. Even if I remember to reuse them, they will weaken, probably without me being able to tell, until one day one of them will break, knowing my luck with something like a bottle of whisky inside it. I wonder whether the shop will give me replacement shopping to go with the worn out bag?

I'm also worried about all those unemployed bag makers, and what on earth they're going to find to put into the landfill sites. I'm not sure that these green people have really thought this through, and something bad won't happen. Still, in the meantime, I'll make an effort. If I remember...

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

But, you should feel very good about yourself today, being a good little nature lovin boy!

I have a couple of the 'green'bags myself. My grocery store went to uber thin plastic and they won't even hold a box of cereal now.

Jean Knee said...

dang, that gal looks like me before I went to the glamorama.

good for you brian! You gotta get some carbon credits for that one.


somewhere far away Father Al sighs in his sleep

Brian o vretanos said...

Catscratch:

Half of the free bags get thrown away unused because they don't even survive being torn from the holders - it's a moneymaking scam by the shops.

Jean Knee:

I find it hard to believe that my bag recycling habits will have any effect on some massive polar ice cap.

Jean Knee said...

it's true, you've got to believe.

Father Al is not into propaganda.






shit, I couldn't type that with a straight face :)

for a different kind of girl said...

But...they're still plastic?! Our green, do-good bags are a dollar a piece and are made of canvas with a nifty handle, making them bigger and more durable than the plastic bags normally used (like when I forget my do-good bag!).

Brian o vretanos said...

Jean Knee:

Shame on you! I can't believe that anyone who has risen to the top (well nearly) of political life could be involved in propoganda of any kind.

I think I'm better than you at keeping a straight face...






Alright, I admit it - I'm not ;-)

FADKOG:

That sounds like a much better idea. Maybe I should investigate further. Or just ask my 10-year-old Environmental Advisor when she's here next ;-)

Bee said...

I bought some but Andy won’t take them when he goes grocery shopping. Our supermarket has a recycling area where you can bring last weeks bags to have them recycled but I don’t trust them.

That orange is such an ugly color, at least mine are red.

Brian o vretanos said...

Bee:

I didn't think of shopping around for different colours. Tesco (biggest chain in Britain) are blue and white, and Asda (owned by Walmart) green, so I suspect that these are probably the nearest you'd get here to red.

Bee said...

Looks like you've been spammed.

;op

Bee said...

ELEVENTH!!!

Bee said...

And in case you delete the spam

ELEVENTH!!!

Bee said...

And in case you delete my spam

ELEVENTH!!!

Ha ha I crack myself up!

That lady in that video looks like a teacher I once had. I think she's dead now.

Not because she was my teacher...

Jean Knee said...

that porn queen spammed me too. I thought I was special

Brian o vretanos said...

Jean Knee:

I've deleted it now, so that Bee's second eleventh post wouldn't be wasted.

Brian o vretanos said...

Jean Knee:

Of course you're special.

Jean Knee said...

how many films did you order? I limited myself to just two.

Brian o vretanos said...

I suppose I should have followed the link before I deleted it. Bugger...

Tracy Rambles On And On said...

My first question is "How much is 30p"? You know, in American dollars.
See, I bought reusable bags at my grocery but they are cloth bags, no plastic at all. And they're wonderful! And they were 89 cents a bag which I thought was a pretty good deal.
I use them for everything. When we were going to the mat, I would give each kid a bag and tell them to put books and crayons and anything else that would keep them occupied while I was doing that laundry.
The only thing I usually forget to use them for is when I go to the grocery. I always think of them when I get to the check out line. Now I have a piece of paper taped to the dash of my car that says "If going to the grocery, get your bags!!!"
Now if I could just remember to read it before getting out of the car.

Brian o vretanos said...

Tracy:

These cloth bags sound great. The plastic ones are 10p each, which is about $0.20.

Now they're selling us the bags, it seems that they need to get us sorted out with better memories too ;-)