The Great Carrier Bag Scandal

In a time of unprecedented ecological concern and constant reminders to be green, we as the UK general public have made a respectable stab at washing out our jam jars and turning down our thermostats. Whilst there will always be gaping holes in the sustainable practise of the nation with old-school industry and air-conditioned office blocks, the last few years have seen a conspicuous improvement in the attitude of consumers towards waste. Most importantly, we seem to still be happy enough, perhaps demonstrating that consumption and waste is not the only source of enjoyment in Western society.

In fact the recent drive to be "green" from both manufacturers and our peers has spawned a die-hard elite of frugalists and return of the 'make do and mend' brigade. The old British adage has been revived in a recent BBC remake where handy sowers and resourceful cooks provided lessons on how to reduce waste and save money.

The combination of belt-tightening and the dawning revelation that we might be actually be knackering the planet has prompted the almost ubiquitous 'war on carrier bags'. Once a time where triple bagging heavy items was actively encouraged by the teenage checkout assistant, punters now have to wrestle a few measly bags from the attendant just so they can get their products out the door. Instead loyalty points and growing sense of smugness are provided as recompense for bringing your own scrumpled carriers or buying into the bag for life scheme. All in all, a sustainability success you might say.

So how is it that logic still evades us in such glaring ways in other areas? I recently saw a pile of Argos catalogues which had made their way half a mile down a high street and subsequently been rained on providing enough material to create a sizeable papier mache sculpture. I am presuming that the culmination of 3000 pages of printed product adverts was not used before being discarded, instead providing a massive waste of energy and effort. What's more someone has to then be paid to clean it up.

Levels of product packaging seem to have also escaped the chop. Apart from my annoyance with the fact it often takes me 20 minutes to wrestle open stubborn plastic blister packs, there is simply no need to wrap things 4 times in a packagers almanac of different materials. Some of the worst offenders are listed over on Business Insider, with my personal favourite being individually wrapped bananas...

All this makes me worry that it doesn't really matter whether I only use one sheet of toilet paper, or whether I get some nectar points for bringing a smelly carrier bag for my shopping. In the grand scheme of things it feels like we need to do a lot more if we are serious about not living in a planet-wide rubbish dump before the next century.