Thursday, May 22, 2008

Greener than Thou

Carrier bags are potent symbols of status and taste. Gay Banker recently posted his boyfriend’s bag hierarchy theory; we’re absolutely on the same wavelength because I do the same! – But now, the age of the shop logo’d carrier may be coming to an end. The supermarkets especially are promoting the idea of ‘bags for life’ in order to save the planet.

I’m really good at home – I use my woven recycled plastic (good!) fairtrade (excellent!) carrier bags flown in from South Africa (Oops!). However, I’m struggling to train myself at work. Usually I run out at lunch and buy myself a sandwich and a few bits of fruit to last the afternoon. Working in Kingston, I am blessed with the choice of M&S, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Asda all within easy reach. In my desk drawer I have ‘bags for life’ from all of them. Somehow, and I stress not by design, I always tend to end up at Sainsbury’s and Asda with bags from M&S or Waitrose. It bothers me slightly – will people think I’m some sort of Hyacinth Bucket character? Even worse – am I??! So, picture my relief the other day when I finally found myself at M&S with an Asda bag. The glow of righteousness was truly blinding.

4 comments:

Boz said...

hahahah! I know exactly what you mean. But I always forget to take the bag-for-life with me in the first place. I am impressed by the check-out peeps at Sainsbury's who stare meaningfully at you and say things like 'you will remember to bring a bag in next time?'. Social embarrassment is definitely one way to get me to go greener.

Hedgie said...

Heh heh - maybe they can work on my new flatmate; to him green is just another colour. However, bless, he's new and eager to make a good impression - he asked me the other day what I did with Sainsbury's bags. He was very chuffed with the idea of taking them back to Sainsbury's to recycle.

Hedgie said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Hedgie said...

erm - the above was a duplicate comment by me - this posting thingy is acting funny!