Public intervention: a good thing?

“You don’t need a bag for that.” When those words escaped my lips yesterday, I surprised myself, not to mention everyone else in the shop. In the past I have bitten my tongue in these situations. A lapse in concentration, this time, led to a successful plastic bag intervention in my local corner shop. The teenager in question, who had asked for a bag for his vile can of body-building chocolate milkshake, gawped at me, before walking out with it in his hand.

Whether or not this is an appropriate method of discouraging plastic bags, I’m not sure – I’d be interested to hear your opinion. Generally, I’m not in favour of shaming people in public - it's not part of my gently, gently, isn't-going-green-fun ethos - but this outburst been brewing for some time. Everyday I see someone buying a pint of milk in that shop or a bag of crisps and specifically asking for a bag. I wonder why. Is it because the bag is a sign that you have consumed, that you are wealthy and happy and can buy things when you want them? Is carrying one a visible and desirable display of consumption? If so, how funny that I behave in the opposite way, burying my purchases in the bottom of a rucksack to disguise the fact that I’ve done another lunchtime raid on Waitrose.

Anyway, the point is that I’m worried. What will I do next? Pull people from their cars and frog march them over to a bicycle. Who knows?

(By the way, the bag in the picture is from Green Eyed Frog. I wanted to find a picture of the lovely fold up tote bag that my friend Sophie gave me -it came from Superdrug (£2.49) - but it seems to have been left behind in all the excitement about Supedrug's latest "It Bag" designed by one of the Prince's Trust ambassadors.)

Comments

[Karen]

Good for you! I'm still at the stage of getting funny looks almost every time I refuse a bag in a shop. And why do shops give a carrier bag when you buy gift vouchers?!

[Kitchen Witch]

Also, why do shops attempt to give you bags even when you've said you don't need one? It's like an automatic habit. Grr.

[EcoWorrier]

Kitchen Witch - I asked a local shop that once and the owner said that if you dropped your purchases and they ruined on the way home, the shop could be accountable for the damage, so it is in their interest to make sure everything is suitably swathed in plastic.

[Kitchen Witch]

Heh. How very typical of the world in which we live. And how utterly depressing. *grumble grumble* [Insert something about nation of shopkeepers here]

[Frankie Love]

on a related topic . . .

Just read your piece in the October issue of Elle about your self-imposed 12-month shopping ban . . . you might find solace in two other reformed shopaholics - Judith Levine and Neil Boorman - who embarked on similar projects in 2006 and published books about their experiences this year.

Judith Levine undertook an extreme experiment which involved giving up all but the most necessary purchases for an entire year. Her book is called 'Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping'. Her blog is:
http://www.judithlevine.com/blog

Neil Boorman realised he was addicted to brands and decided to rid himself of all his branded possessions by burning them on a 'pyre'. He charted his process of self-examination, and an analsis of the brand-dominated world in which we live, on his blog (http://www.bonfireofthebrands.com). His book is 'Bonfire of the Brands. How I Learnt to Live Without Labels' and is a pretty candid and thought-provoking read.

Good luck. Frankie

[Christine]

I can sympathise with a certain nervousness about leaving a shop without some visible proof for other shop staff that the purchaser hasn't just shoplifted the item in their hand - especially if he/she is a teenager, 'hoodie', or from a similar group often viewed with suspicion.