Selfsufficientish.com

Reading about the "carry a bag" campaign on your main page, I thought I'd share. I'm surrently trying to get into schools and encourage primary age children to understand about recycling and giving out my home made reusable fabric bags.

I'm based in Yorkshire, but I spend a lot of time in Aberystwyth, so if anyone in these areas knows of a school or youth group that would like me to come and talk to them about recycling and in particular giving up plastic bags, please feel free to contact me on lj504@york.ac.uk

Lindsay xx

Good for you linzie - keep up the good work

york.ac.uk? The University of York? My alma mater!

Wulf

It is indeed the university of York, though sadly I graduate this summer and move to..... sunny Aberystwyth :D

Aber's not too bad. I had a friend at York who went to work at the Uni there after his MA and ended settling and joining the teaching faculty.

Wulf

Aber is wonderful in the spring and it is refreshingly easy to walk round and leave the car parked. biking is also easy except up the hill and theres lots of bike paths

Good work with informing school kids about unecessary use of plastic bags.
I'm new to this site but over thee last few months have been getting increasingly angry about the ridiculous use of plastic bags in shops and supermarkets - i bought a pair of shoes and a scarf in Marks and Spencer last week and despite asking for no bags please - came away with three bags - each thing wrapped individually and then put in one big bag. I'd usually complain but was so stunned i ended up having them forced on me. Never again!

I was very pleased to hear on Newsnight last night T***o's plans to introduce fully degradeable plastic bags by September and to reduce the number that are used. Well done to them for starting the ball rolling - as the biggest supermarket i hope it's only a matter of time before all the others follow suit.

My son was recently given a book I can help recycle rubbish. It explains that 'Everything we use and throw away is made from the earth's natural resources. These are water, oil, coal, gas, air, rocks, plants and animals.'

Paper was a tree. Drink cans were rocks. Glass was sand. Clothes from plants, animals, or chemicals made from oil.

It uses an analogy all children understand: 'Imagine you were given a huge jar of sweets but you could not have any more when they were gone. Eat them slowly and carefully, and you can enjoy them for a long time. Gobble them all up at once and they will soon disappear.'

We need to leave these resources to people who come after us.

Then it occurred to me that some people complain about the price of petrol but it is our insatiable thirst for convenience -- plastic bags, nappies, plastic cups, store-bought food/drink in plastic containers, the list is long -- that drives up the cost of crude oil. Why drive when we can walk or cycle? Why buy cheap clothes (cheap to make, using lots of oil to transport across the world) when a good few classic pieces can see us through many years?

My son now makes the point of switching off the lights he does not need as he moves from one room/floor to another. That's a result.

And then of course there are string bags ....

Don't they have to pay for their plastic bags in Ireland? I'd love to see that happen here.

What I find interesting is the attitude elderly people have to plastic bags and waste in general. They don't like to have them because they see it as a waste to throw them away. I've made a few friends on bus to the town centre recently and they all carry their own bag put their shopping in. Largely, our generation doesn't have a sense of thrift.

Just off to drink a glass of Sanatogen and put my slippers on... Countdown anyone?

sallyh wrote: I was very pleased to hear on Newsnight last night T***o's plans to introduce fully degradeable plastic bags by September and to reduce the number that are used. Well done to them for starting the ball rolling - as the biggest supermarket i hope it's only a matter of time before all the others follow suit.

How did T***o manage to put it across that it's them who are starting that off? The Coop has had those bags for quite a while... (I suppose they just don't have the right connections to get on Newsnight.)

Anyway - I don't think degradeable bags are much better than the others - no bags is the only alternative for me. Children are often quite impressed if you tell them that those plastic bags (and I'm sure the degradeable bags are almost as bad at it as the non-degradeable ones) kill birds - lots of seabirds eat bits of plastic and die of it.

What a great idea Lindsay!! Get them young before the habits are unbreakable.

Ina - I agree... and Somerfield used the degradable bags too!! I read somewhere that they weren't all they were cracked up to be anyway - I can't remember where, but it was an article about the difference between biodegradable and degradable plastic.

I missed newsnight last night but have recorded it and we'll be watching it shortly!

I think the most frustrating thing is getting the message across... publicity is hard!

I'm targeting primary for the very reson of getting in there before habits form - and also because children have "nagging power" at home - well thats the theory!