treehugger
06-01-2006, 09:39 PM
Hey, it's time for some insight on the ever-popular, age-old question: paper or plastic?
Used by cashiers since the development of the modern supermarket, this common phrase usually elicits a simple one-word answer. But how many consumers actually stop to think about what it really means?
If you are like many shoppers today, you may just give an absent-minded, thinking-about-work-tomorrow-and-what's-on-the-shopping-list-that-i-forgot-and-oh-it's-shampoo-but-who-really-needs-shampoo-anyway-and-the-line's-too-long-and-my-feet-itch-and-what's-for-dinner answer of "Plastic".
But do you actually know why you've chosen plastic? The enlightenend consumer may stop before reaching the register and think, "I believe that today I will opt for plastic because it is lightweight, reusable, makes a neat little rustly sound when I move it, and it has such convenient handles!" This is surely what must be going through any intelligent, focused shopper's mind before he or she even catches sight of the zit-faced, lanky teenager working the register. Plastic is the obvious choice for convenience in this fast-paced world.
However, in this increasingly environmentally concious planet of ours, one must closely consider the advantages to "paper" bags. They are recyclable, high-capacity, can be used as covers for schoolbooks, make great doodle paper for boring classes or conversations with boring people, and cause little old ladies to pay kids to carry her groceries because she can't see over the top of the paper bag. They also decompose quickly, so they don't float across the ocean and strangle helpless fish like those nasty plastic ones that hang around for hundreds of years.
The next time you are faced with this controversial dilemma, take a moment and think about what your one-word answer will mean to you, and to the entire world. Think about it.
Paper or Plastic?
Used by cashiers since the development of the modern supermarket, this common phrase usually elicits a simple one-word answer. But how many consumers actually stop to think about what it really means?
If you are like many shoppers today, you may just give an absent-minded, thinking-about-work-tomorrow-and-what's-on-the-shopping-list-that-i-forgot-and-oh-it's-shampoo-but-who-really-needs-shampoo-anyway-and-the-line's-too-long-and-my-feet-itch-and-what's-for-dinner answer of "Plastic".
But do you actually know why you've chosen plastic? The enlightenend consumer may stop before reaching the register and think, "I believe that today I will opt for plastic because it is lightweight, reusable, makes a neat little rustly sound when I move it, and it has such convenient handles!" This is surely what must be going through any intelligent, focused shopper's mind before he or she even catches sight of the zit-faced, lanky teenager working the register. Plastic is the obvious choice for convenience in this fast-paced world.
However, in this increasingly environmentally concious planet of ours, one must closely consider the advantages to "paper" bags. They are recyclable, high-capacity, can be used as covers for schoolbooks, make great doodle paper for boring classes or conversations with boring people, and cause little old ladies to pay kids to carry her groceries because she can't see over the top of the paper bag. They also decompose quickly, so they don't float across the ocean and strangle helpless fish like those nasty plastic ones that hang around for hundreds of years.
The next time you are faced with this controversial dilemma, take a moment and think about what your one-word answer will mean to you, and to the entire world. Think about it.
Paper or Plastic?