WALL OF TEXT: REUSABLE BAGS

 

WALL OF TEXT: REUSABLE BAGS. It occurs to me that I take it for granted I can walk into a store with a reusable bag and nobody thinks anything of it. This wasn’t always the case. I remember when the trend started. It began with a law. Hawaii passed a law requiring all plastic bags to be reusable. So what did manufacturers do? They printed “reusable” on existing plastic bags. The law had been worded so vaguely to make this legal. It flopped. Single-use plastic bags continue to be made and used, but companies were scared. After this, they began manufacturing bags designed to be reused, instructing cashiers to honor the use of all bags customers brought with them, including those bearing the names and logos of their competitors. It was a good idea, and with corporate support, the culture around such bags changed instantly, but since single-use plastic bags continue to be manufactured there is no net savings on plastic. I think it’s a case study of how even a failed law can spur a change of corporate behavior, which in turn alters culture. Law is important if it is the will of the people. All that remains is to take the final step and declare single-use plastic bags should not exist. Recycling is largely a myth for plastics. The answer is not to make these things at all. Recycle, Reduce, Reuse must happen at the manufacturing stage, not the consumer. Shoppers do not demand single-use shopping bags. They are used to them. I think if people were properly educated on how much harm these products do, they would choose an alternative. It’s only since a failed law that such alternatives exist. Corporations do not respond to consumer demand, so stop claiming they only behave the way they do because consumers demand it. Stop making wasteful products, and consumers will cease consuming such things.