To the editor,
How inane is all the hoopla surrounding plastic shopping bags?
So you head to the supermarket with your neatly folded reusable cloth shopping bags. You hit the produce aisle and stuff a handful of carrots in the conveniently provided (plastic) bags. You then select a two-pound package of grapes housed in a giant (plastic) clam shell. Next to the bulk section for some walnuts. Wow, look at the price. You scoop a handful into a (plastic) bag and secure it with a twist tie. On to the meat department. You find a nice package of spicy Italian sausage in a foam tray tightly sealed with (plastic) film wrap. Dish soap? Here’s one says no phosphates in a bright (plastic) squeeze bottle. Toothpaste that brightens AND whitens, in a (plastic) tube with a convenient (plastic) flip top. Now on to the dairy. Look! Gruyère on sale, in a vacuum-sealed (plastic) sleeve. Grab a four litre (plastic) jug of milk with a colourful (plastic) lid. Finally some pumpernickel bread in a (plastic) bag with a neat little (plastic) tab to keep it closed.
You now head home with your purchases tucked away in your reusable cloth shopping bags. You start to unpack and realize that everything you purchased is enclosed in some form of plastic container. You reduced your plastic consumption by less than 10 per cent by using your reusable cloth shopping bags. Of course, ban plastic shopping bags. But why stop there? Even if it costs us more in the end, the onus should be put on the producers and retailers to drastically reduce the remaining 90-plus per cent by presenting their products in an eco-friendly way.
Larry DeClark, Nanaimo
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Appeal court decision on plastic bags misguided
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