I was discussing with a friend about plastic straws going to be banned in a few months. He said, “straws suck. I never use a straw – I drink right from the plastic cup or plastic bottle or whatever it is made of. In a fast food joint I always say to put a hold on the straw.” This conversation as ridiculous as it was, made me wonder, “if they ever hide plastics from us consumers, what kind of world would it be?”
They are even talking about eliminating plastic grocery bags. The days are becoming darker for these handy collection devices. Some big-shots thinking they are so clever, want to replace plastic bags with papers ones. They can’t be serious but that’s the freaking truth. The excuse is that it’s more eco-friendly! Not to me. I generally buy a few extra when I shop for food, even taping up holes in them when I get back home. They are a treasured commodity – so handy to collect cat litter. With as many cats as we have, any convenience like that is a godsend.
I can think of so many other uses that it is downright frightening that they may not be plentiful down the road. What would I keep the toilet plunger in or seal jars that are kept in the fridge that sometimes get knocked over when I’m trying to find something in a hurry. On a wet or snowy day outside, Sheila makes me wear them over my shoes when I come in rather than remove them and have to hunt for my slippers. For the car in the wintertime they are ideal to protect windshield wipers from ice buildup. You can’t use a paper substitute for that. They are handy too for stuffing apple cores, potato chip wrappers and snotty Kleenex into, until you can discard it.
Even in some countries like China and Ireland, if you are seen carrying plastic bags around, people will see you as socially unacceptable, as if you’re wearing a real fur coat or eating Big Mac’s every day. This time though it wasn’t the US that screwed up the system.
This new way somehow feels unfair for plastic bags. How come they become the only one in the whole ‘Plastics Family’ first to be condemned around the world. Some stores are stooping to having text printed on them saying, “avoid the shame. Bring a reusable bag.” If my store ever attempted that low-down manoeuvre I would simply turn the plastic bag inside out before loading in my groceries.
I remember the time one girl came to a backyard party with her whole attire designed from plastic bags. It did look cool but then the guys who were smoking kept burning holes in it with their cigarettes. She wasn’t able to hang-out for long. Others brought bottles of beer on layers of ice cubes in their plastic bags – a little more rational.
And what will we do when more and more additional plastics are phased out. What if you wanted a container of raspberries? Putting those into a paper bag would make them mushy. Kiwis would be okay though. We like the chocolate cakes from the frozen section protected by durable plastic. Without the container, I can’t imagine getting it home in the shape it was. What about plastic bottles turning back to glass? That would more than double the weight. It might even deter some people from buying groceries at all! Or maybe having to use their hard earned money to hire someone to do it.
Why is it when things work like a charm do they have to be tampered with? Government decided on loonies and toonies for no good reason. Now men’s pockets wear out faster than a fat kid chasing an ice cream truck. When the wide ties thinned out to the width of fettuccini, I was really disappointed. The wider ones were so macho, catching the eye of girl in an instant. And what about Four Flavoured chocolate bars, 8 squares, 2 each of the 4 flavours. I’ve been hopelessly looking for them for years.
I realize there has been a lot of improvements over time to make our lives easier and more interesting. I have no beef about that at all. It’s the small mindless deviations for no practical reason except to satisfy someone’s whim. That I take issue with.
