How our life will change if plastic bags are banned

It is not the first year that a whirlwind of rumors has been sweeping through the media that plastic bags are about to be banned in supermarkets. They say that it is not environmentally friendly, it is necessary to reduce the consumption of plastic. After all, we do not really know how to process it, and this material does not decompose naturally. If they are still banned, our way of life will change beyond recognition. 

The other day, Thai supermarkets took such a measure – they refused from plastic bags. They began to wrap their purchases in banana leaves. A video immediately appeared on the Internet on how to roll the leaves correctly so that nothing falls out of them. But Thailand is not Russia. We can’t carry food in bananas in the cold. Yes, and there are simply no leaves for most of the year in the country of evergreen tomatoes. None. No banana or birch.

No, I am for the environment. Separate waste collection, utilization of biowaste and the fight against illegal landfills – I support all this, “for” with both hands. It is a pity that so far in words and not in deeds, since in our small town there are practically no nets for plastic, and landfills are all as one – common and massive (when waste is in one big heap). However, the situation is changing. Although rather slow. Every now and then a customer appears in the supermarket, proudly taking the string bag out of his bag and offering to “put everything here,” and at the same time informing him that he, too, is ready to refuse the bags. 

However, each trip to the supermarket is by no means one package. This is also from the heels of packing bags for loose products, bags with cereals and pasta. Ashan already offers reusable bags for vegetables and fruits, for example. But these packages have to be bought. Extra spending – who loves them? Imagine how much buckwheat will cost if they start packing it in biodegradable bags? In the case of cheap cereals such as oatmeal, the packaging is likely to be more expensive than the product itself. And again – a new load on our wallet. 

In addition, polyethylene is not only about shops, but about us and our long-term habits. Send things for seasonal storage, pack the trash bin – are you ready to go back to the trash bin with a bucket? In addition, the garbage stuffed into tied bags is not so dragged away by stray animals, the ubiquitous rats, and the wind is not so carried away. 

I don’t even wrap my suitcase with plastic wrap before traveling, but pack it in a large garbage bag. By the way, if polyethylene is to be banned, it is necessary to ban film at the airport as well. Her kilometers a day go there. 

The cling film is indispensable in the kitchen and in the beauty salon, we pack wet things in bags after the pool, we carry potatoes from mom from the village in them, even for dogs on the street, especially responsible pet owners clean them with bags. Each apartment is full of bags: I store both things and household chemicals in them, I put them on my head when I make hair masks, I also put a plate of food in a bag before sending it to the refrigerator – it’s not always in the mood to put it in a container. And also vacuum bags – it is convenient to store winter things in them, and much more things fit in a suitcase with them. 

Just imagine that all these badly needed packages will disappear at once or will be withdrawn from circulation! Our everyday life will immediately have to be seriously rebuilt, and some familiar things will even have to be learned anew. I will immediately remember the times when our mothers washed the bags, then dried them and used them for the second, fifth, tenth time. And there seems to be only one way out here – to start getting used to the new reality as early as possible. Well, at least with the purchase of a shopping bag for food.