Shopping in Wilkinson today, I noticed one of those Bag for Life things – 10p would buy me a super-strong carrier bag which can be used again and again. Well, I didn’t need too much convincing: I scurried to the checkout with bag in hand, feeling slightly smug cheerful about doing my bit to save the planet.
However, as I was walking back to the station to catch my train home, it occurred to me that if I go into Wilkinson with that bag in the future, they’re not going to know it’s being reused from a previous purchase. In fact, they might think I’m trying to steal it. Therefore the re-use potential is slightly less than advertised.
It’s all very well Al Gore preaching to us about the environment, but he doesn’t think about the details.