My family was at IKEA yesterday and we bought a small chair. When I queued up to make payment, my wife told me no plastic bags will be given out, just in case I made an ass of myself. We had to buy one for 10 cents to carry our 'some assembly required' chair. I was aware of the Bring Your Own Bag Day initiative that started in April 2007, but I was not aware at that point that IKEA had gone all the way and they do not give plastic bags out at all.
If you do not know about BYOBD yet, I hope you don't find out the hard way. One lady ahead of me in the queue had asked her son to get a plastic bag from the cashier, thinking a terrible mistake had been made. Upon finding out the truth, she shot the cashier some dirty looks and left muttering to herself. Armed with superior knowledge, I had already taken a 10 cents bags beforehand and was trying to act nonchalant as I looked on.
Plastic bags are something that we have taken for granted. It's so easy to use! We've all learned of the harmful effects on the environment which entails from all the plastic addiction, but no one had as yet done anything about it. Until now. BYOBD! Remember, the first Wednesday of every month, please do not embarass yourself.
Some people will complain. It's expensive and inconvenient. It's an excuse for corporations to suck more money from us. It's no use because people just end up buying the plastic bags. Bla bla bla. You see, it's all very simple. Just Bring Your Own Bag. All this is to encourage the culture of using re-usable bags as opposed to plastic bags.
Of course there will be people who support this whole-heartedly. I think most people will. But there's no applause. No big news story. No congratulations for the people behind this initiative. And I wonder why that is. Is singapore so attached to the use of plastic bags that there is some level of resentment or worry in all of us? I'll be the first to admit, that although I'm happy for the Environment (whoever she is), I'm a bit worried about how we'll dispose of rubbish from our homes without those plentiful, free plastic bags from the supermarket.
2 comments:
You know, I ran out of plastic bags, aargh! I need to get some from friends now...
About IKEA's efforts, see Habitatnews
wow. Now, I'm so impressed that after almost a year, Singaporeans are adapting to this idea. Even my mum has bought 5 reusable bags from cold storage and NTUC. We are not only saving the Earth, we are also setting a whole new trend. :)
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