ENVIRONMENT, SAVING THE: It’s fun and trendy and sometimes ironically misunderstood
Dear Plastic Target Bag,
I know, I have some explaining to do. On the fateful day of your death, this is probably what you remember: you were pulled from you cozy pile and opened up when a large Pilates mat was placed inside you. This is where your typical lifecycle of being a plastic bag was disturbed. Words were exchanged and a moment later the Pilates mat was removed. Then, you were thrown. Away. In the trash.
It’s been a couple of months now, so I think you should know the truth.
I had become a bit more conscious of my plastic bag usage after noticing my collection under the sink had grown into the abominable snowman (making it impossible to reach the dish soap—which is not a plausible excuse to neglect doing the dishes.)
So I tell the cashier that I don’t need a bag since the Pilates mat is already in a long, awkwardly shaped box. She takes it out of you and hands it to me. I reach the exit. I turn around. I witness the greatest tragedy of the Green movement. You are being wadded up and tossed into the trashcan by the cashier.
I’m sorry. This is not the life I intended for you. I hoped that I was saving you from that awful fate. At least if I would have taken you home with me I could have crafted you into some plarn like the diehard environmentalists do.
Instead you’re dying away in some landfill next to a dirty diaper and Dollar Tree kaleidoscope birthday party favor.
Darn irony,
A
7 Comments
September 15, 2008 at 8:16 am
Oh no, I can’t believe that they threw away the bag you didn’t need. That really upsets me as Target should be thinking green and being more frugal. I know at my son’s work (grocery store) they reuse bags and encourage people to use reusable bags. We need more companies to promote recycling and not be wasting our precious resources.
September 15, 2008 at 10:30 am
I have the same situation under my own sink. Sometimes I can’t open it without them trying to escape!
September 15, 2008 at 8:31 pm
I always threw away bags that didn’t fit on the bag holder correctly
September 15, 2008 at 11:20 pm
Whaa…?
That is really damn ridiculous.
I love how I bring a billion canvas bags to the grocery store, and for the few plastic bags I actually have to use for the last few items, the clerk puts like one box of crackers in each. It is as though they are trying to make up for all my environmental efforts.
September 23, 2008 at 12:43 pm
Disturbing isn’t it. You try to make a choice to reduce your garbage and the bloody thing ends up in a garbage can anyways, unused!
This happens quite often at coffee shops as well. You bring your own travel mug only to find out that before they pour the coffee into your mug, they must first pour it into one of their styrofoam or paper cups before it ends up in your mug. And of course, the shops cup ends up going straight into the garbage throwing your green intentions out along with it!
October 4, 2008 at 10:02 pm
I think they should charge for bags (like the store that charges to use their carts and bags) then people would become more eco-friendly and bring their own bags. I know I would!
October 29, 2008 at 12:33 am
Well, obviously, none of you have cats who keep their litter boxes in your homes. I have never understood the logic of paying for plastic garbage bags so you can load them up with garbage and throw them away. However, re-using the paper grocery bags for the kitchen garbage is an old, time-tested tradition in our family. My mother did it for as long as I can remember. When the plastic garbage bag was invented, I found that the plastic helped keep anything liquid or messy in the paper grocery/garbage bag from leaking all over the kitchen can, my floor and the rest of the house on the way to the big garbage can in the garage. So … I began to request “paper in plastic” at the check-out. I can put at least twice as many grocery items in the bag that way than if I use only the plastic bag, the bags are easier to carry into the house than if I only had the paper bags and the bags stay upright in the trunk of my car and in the kitchen garbage can. (Have you ever noticed that when you have groceries in a plastic bag, produce tends to float around the trunk after the first turn on the way home?) When I get home, the groceries get unloaded and the bags get neatly folded and stored on a shelf. We usually go generate two bags of garbage a week. Any extra plastic bags (from Wal-mart or from small grocery trips) go into a basket near the cats’ litter box upstairs. Every morning, after feeding the cats, I grab one bag, open it up and use it to hold the clumps from the litter boxes as well as anything from the various waste baskets around the house. I tie the top in an overhand knot and toss the entire bag into the garbage can outside. Being plastic, the bags securely hold any messy litter clumps and the tops tie off nicely. Identity thieves are unlikely to open those bags to find my information and, since a bit of the ammonia smell escapes the bags, the outside garbage can does not get attacked by bears. And being contained inside bags, the cat litter is not as dangerous for the garbage men to handle (since they don’t handle it) and they don’t have to worry about breathing in the dust. (Yuck!!)
Therefore, I really don’t have any extra bags to use for “plarn” – but I wish I did – some of the patterns are really cute and folks have come up with some very creative uses for the bags.