Why Reusable Shopping Bags Are Better For The Environment ?

“Mummy, why are these three for two chicken legs wrapped in plastic?”
“To keep them clean and fresh, darling. You don’t want to eat dirty food with lots of nasty bugs on it, now do you?”
“No, Mummy.” The little girl swings on the trolley handles. “But Mummy, why are these three for two chicken legs on a plastic tray?”
“Well, that’s to stop them getting crushed. You don’t want your food to be all bashed about and horrible, do you?”
“No, Mummy.” The little girl picks the pack out of the trolley and examines it carefully. “But Mummy, why are these three for two chicken legs on a plastic pad?”
“Well, that’s to mop up any blood.”
“Blood, Mummy? Have these chicken legs been alive? Can chicken legs run around on their own?”
“No, of course not. Now let Mummy get on with her shopping, there’s a good girl.”
At last, the checkout is in sight.
“Mummy, why is the nice lady putting our three for two chicken legs into a small plastic bag?”
“To keep them cool.”
“But it’s winter, Mummy.”
“Yes, well, it keeps the food clean and nice.”
“But the three for two chicken legs already are wrapped in plastic. And they’re on a plastic tray. And they’ve got a plastic pad to mop up any gooey, messy, bright red blood that might be oozing from these three for two chicken legs that used to be alive …”
“Just help Mummy put all these things in the bags, will you.”
“You mean, these five brand new plastic bags that the nice lady has just given us?”
“Yes! Now just help Mummy.”
The little girl pops tins and packets and sachets into the bags. Then the chicken legs come through the checkout. “Mummy, should I put these three for two chicken legs, that are wrapped in plastic, on a plastic pad, and in a plastic tray, and that the nice lady has already put into a small plastic bag, should I now put these three for two chicken legs into this big new plastic bag?”
“Yes. Just do as you are told.”
“Why, Mummy?”
“Why? Because I said so!”
“No, why all this throw-away wrapping? I can see we need to keep our three for two chicken legs clean. And I don’t want them to be crushed. And I don’t want to faint at the sight of any nasty, gooey, bright red blood. But, Mummy, why are they also in another small plastic bag, which will only get thrown in the bin, taken away by the refuse collectors, be deemed unrecyclable, and end up either incinerated, putting who-knows-what pollutants into the environment, or put into a landfill site, where it will stay for thousands of years? And then there are these big new plastic bags. Won’t they just end up blowing about the streets, or stuck in the branches of trees?”
“No, Mummy, always puts them in the bin.”
“So, they, too, only get thrown in the bin, taken away by the refuse collectors, be deemed unrecyclable, and end up either incinerated, putting who-knows-what pollutants into the environment, or put into a landfill site, where they will stay for thousands of years.” The little girl pauses, as if for effect, and notices she has an audience. “Wouldn’t it be better,” she says, “if we bought a Bag For Life for 10p and used it again and again, rather than throw away these five plastic carrier-bags?”
“Now that’s enough. Just be quiet. Mummy can’t think about all that just now.”
“That’s ninety-four pounds eighty-three pence, please,” says the nice lady on the till. “Your daughter certainly knows all about shopping bags and the environment. What a clever girl."
“Yes, well, she is a precocious child,” says Mummy. “In fact,” says Mummy, raising her voice and turning to smile to the people in the queue, “she’s just been assessed as Gifted and Talented.”