Monday, August 3, 2009

Reducing plastic bags.


I have been thinking about this "reduce use of plastic bags" riddle, eversince the Penang State government embarked on the campaign to reduce use of plastic bags. One morning, while waiting for my wife in the car, I watched the rubbish truck making its rounds. What I saw was that every rubbish collected was in shopping plastic bag. This means these bags are usefully reused to collect rubbish. Can anyone think of any other way to despose off the rubbish?

So the question is this. And this happened to me. When you run out of shopping plastic bags, what do you use to wrap your rubbish? I had to go buy rubbish bags from the supermarket.

So I still ended up having to use plastic bags! So where do we go from here? I really don't know. One thing I know is that stopping the use of plastic bags in supermarkets is not going to reduce its use.

Any one has a better option?

Postscript:
On a more practical side, please click HERE to see my earlier post!

11 comments:

Yap said...

When you were young and went shopping with your parents were there any plastic bags?? I believed it is all paper bags and shopping basket to carry all the goods.

The change..reason plastic bags are much cheaper.

Justin Choo said...

PM,

Way back in the 70's when I was a student in NZ, we used a rather big paper rubbish bags. Once a week the rubbish would be collected, but no problem because of the cool climate.

Right now they are using plastic bags, but for good reasons. You can go to this site from where I got the picture for this post for more info. Incidentally Waitakiri was the place I once lived in the 80s and 90s when I went back to live in NZ.

http://www.waitakere.govt.nz/cnlser/rr/prepaidbags.asp

romerz said...

It has all to do with costs.

I no longer use plastic bags whenever possible which is about 70% of the time for me.

At home, I use bio-degradable rubbish bags which costs a lot compared to 'free' plastic bags but that is a price I'm willing to pay for doing my part for the environment.

It depends on each individual's financial resources and desire not to add to the pressures already exerted on planet Earth.

I know it is not workable for all people but for those who can afford it, should be encouraged to forgo plastic bags.

Usually it is the affluent who creates the most rubbish in my opinion.

monsterball said...

Everywhere I go...I see people are still using plastic bags..including me.
It's convenient...weightless and strong..and cheap.
Focusing on keeping the house clean...is not an easy job.
I get very upset to see cockroaches rats ...flies and ants in my house.
So far so good...inspite of have so many dogs.
That is also contributing to the enviroment and healthy living surroundings.
Let the world government ban plastic bags and come out with equally cheap ways to store rubbish.
They can make sure oil and water are flowing to right places.
Why can't they construct a system where houses throw their waste into a hole..and flush it like toilet bowls?

bow said...

What's the problem with state government, don't they have a better thing to do? Stop using plastic bag, are they going to subsidy supermarket to use paper bag or biodegradable bag? plastic bag is used because it is cheaper to use for bagging of supermarket goods, and we can used them for our trashes too . Just telling people to stop using it without providing a viable alternative is not going to work out . If state government can send out robot collecting my trash every day, then i can stop using plastic bag immediately.

Yap said...

Other uses of plastic bag:

Carrying/storage of water during camping,

To shit in it if no toilet aval;

Keep your shoe and feet dry during heavy rain..use big bags;

Use to wade across small stream..2/3 ft of water using garbage bags

Large garbage bags..use 3 layers..trap more air and tie up the end to use as floats

To Kill or suffocate or commit suicide;

Finally use the slender white plastic bags for making home make ice cream...use it as a condom...or

Insert into middle finger to fiddle..if you don't want to dirty your middle finger.

A filthy mind

Justin Choo said...

PM,

What about this?

http://blackandwhite999.blogspot.com/2008/05/designer-olympics-swimwear.html

Anonymous said...

I voted for PR to govern Penang, not because i need them to run a campaign telling us not to use plastic bag for our trashes, but to make sure we have full employment opportunity, lowest crime rate, better governance, less bureaucratic red tape, higher standard of living for Penangites, since BN is undependable. I hope PR can do better than that under LKE, don't disappoint me .

Justin Choo said...

Anonymous @ 6.12am.

At least now I know you are from Penang.

Anonymous said...

DAP need to think like Malaysian, not like those racists in BN . They should govern Penang with integrity and good governance, always formulate policy for the good of Penangites not this race or that race. Then only they can have an extended term in Penang. Unless they want to be voted out in next election.

Anonymous said...

Penang state government need to have a recycle plastic bag center to buy back used plastic bag from consumers, and then reuse in the supermarket for another ten years. It should be a joint program between government and supermarket owners. In this way, consumers earn a little for preserving our environment, everyone is happy.

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