Gracy Bee

No Plastic bags!

Posted on May 5th, 2007 by GracyBee.
Categories: Everyday life.

The ‘No Plastic Bags’ in supermarkets has started here recently. Like what I have read in the Forum in STI today, I agreed that this campaign is long overdue.

Just like what the writer in Forum has experienced in Germany, I experienced the similar in UK for the last 7 years. My 1st year in UK was quite a new experience as I did not know at that time Aldi (a supermarket) don’t provide plastic bags. You find your own way to pack your own groceries, be it your own sch bag, luggage, box. Or you pay to get a good quality bag or normal plastic bags. At that time, I was quite pissed off with such a system.

However after a while, I got used to it, and actually quite enjoyed the experience. Every shopping trip to supermarkets or wet markets I would bring one of my trolley backpack and stuffed all inside the bag. Those poultry has to be packed in plastic bags 1st for obvious reasons. Only those ‘fragile’ food like eggs, bread or etc I would carry on hand in plastic bags.

Garbage collection system there was very new to me too - once a week system. It was only when I started to live in private housing there then I realised the differences. In the beginning, my new housemate told me the garbage day was Monday at that time. I was confused and then she told me we need to bring out our garbage the night before. Ah….. So the very 1st thing you ask when you moved into new house: when is the garbage day and where to deposit those bags.

In UK, we get free strong garbage bags, one black and one green for rubbish and grass respectively (That come with a price though: we paid council taxes, though I’m exempted because I was a student then). Not too bad as a system, but that time I do sometimes missed the convenience of our HDB rubbish chutes.

Some people I heard these are their ways to conserve. Well, I personally think that, other than conserving, it is also practical to their culture. In Europe, though the climate has changed in recent years, it is still a temperate region with mild temperatures. Hence, the rubbish wouldn’t smell really bad if garbage is only collected once a week. Even that, there were not much pests and insects looking happily at their ‘utopia’. Can’t say the same for summer though.

In Asia, the climate don’t allow us to clear bags once a week. Half a day is enough to attract insects and pests into our house. Hence the daily clearance of the bins. Thus the need of bags to tie properly to avoid spillage and pests.

Plastic bags are still important to us but still we need to do our part not to waste plastic bags unnecessary. The recent campaign is good to help do our part. It is heartwarming to know the increasing awareness here.

Oh, one more thing I forgot to mention about the ‘Once a week’ garbage collection. If the garbage collection day happened to be a public holiday, there is NO collection and what happen? Our garbage have to sit in the house for 2 weeks. Yeah, Yarks. Or you can take it to the other side of the road as they have had different collection days, but don’t get caught by the residents! They get angry if they see you taking your garbage to their territory! And if not disposed by two weeks, maggots will come…Ewwwwww.

This is what I don’t like about the system there, where such services are affected by public holidays too, where in Spore, the services remain 24/7 active. And IF there are strikes (so far haven’t met yet LUCKILY in 7 years), you can forget about disposing once a week, and what to do when you have no car? Just wait. And even if have a car, no way I’m going to put the maggot infested bags onto it.

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