I happened to be shopping at the supermarket on the day that Andrew Bolt had pointed out in his Herald Sun blog a few home truths about the ban on single-use bags.
The ban had been imposed by the major supermarkets on a voluntary basis but is backed by various pieces of state legislation.
Bolt outlined a number of facts: most of these so-called single-use bags were actually reused; they were helpful to stabilise rubbish in landfill; virtually all the plastic waste in the oceans could be sourced to several river systems in Asia and Africa; the bring-your-own bag alternatives were often worse for the environment in terms of their production; these BYO bags could easily harbour diseases.
The checkout person who was helping me said it had been a particularly ugly day. Someone had thrown a litre of milk at her when asked to purchase the overpriced 15c offering.
Let’s be clear, the plastic bag fiasco is the not the fault of the hardworking staff, who have had to suffer considerably as a result of the decisions of their gormless, virtue-signalling bosses.
This has been a definite downside of the transition to BYO bags. We are still being told we will get used to it.
Let’s also be clear that most members of the public would probably go along with an initiative if it is based on real evidence supporting a claim that the environment will benefit. The trouble is that the evidence in relation to the plastic bags previously used by supermarkets is just not there.
And now we have these same gormless, virtue-signalling bosses from Coles deciding that the supermarkets will give away plastic bags — just not the single-use ones — for the foreseeable future.
It has been an unmitigated PR and, presumably, commercial disaster for the supermarkets. Frankly, the equally gormless and virtue-signalling state politicians have gotten away scot-free. Hopefully, the public will wreak their revenge on them in due course.
The last time I went to the supermarket with my motley collection of bags that had been sitting in the boot of the car, I spent enough money to be given a little plastic toy. And because I had bought more than would fit in said collection of bags, the helpful checkout person gave me a couple of sturdy plastic bags to accommodate the remaining goods.
But it’s OK, I’m reusing them as bin liners. How environmentally minded is that?
And for the foreseeable future I’ll be choosing Coles over Woolies.
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