Plastic Bags: Today’s ‘Free Lunch’?
How many times have you heard the adage “There’s no such thing as a free lunch”?
What this means of course, is that a person cannot get something for nothing - there is always a cost. Some things appear to be free, but there’s always a hidden cost.
The phrase is actually a shortened version of “There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch” (TANSTAAFL) from Robert A. Heinlein’s 1966 novel The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress.
It’s particularly aimed at society - meaning, if one individual or group gets something at no cost, another group or individual else ends up paying for it.
I wonder if plastic bags are today’s “free lunch”?
They are typically given away for free with everything you buy. Even if you buy one small item - you get a free plastic bag. How cool is that? A free thing with everything I buy!
So, we’ve had our free lunch. Now, every one of those free plastic bags is being paid for - by the natural environment. Unfortunately, the average 8 minutes of usage we got from each of our plastic bags will now take 1,000 years to be fully paid for. That’s how long it can take for a plastic bag to decompose. And that’s not all. There are many other impacts of plastic bags on the environment.
But, too often, the same old attitude seems to remain: I’ll use as many as I want - after all they’re free…
Tags: plastic bag recycling, plastic bags, Sustainability
