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In the Pike Market in Seattle, I bought a small apron skirt for Yifan. That was a very small thing that I can put into my pocket. The lady who sold it to me gave me a large plastic bag, and I immediately said: "Oh. No. Thanks...".
Plastic Bags?
When people travel, and maybe only when people travel, they can be more sensitive to the world, and found out something that they didn't think before.
Free plastic bags for retailer besides food have been banned in China for quiet some time. (beforeand after the ban). I, and most of people in China, has gotten used to a world without plastic bag. People start to bring cloth reusable bags to shopping already. The free plastic bag in Seattle, and in most of other places in US was very different.
Uncomfortable to Use One
I just feel very uncomfortable to use plastic bags, especially for small things, where a bag is completely not necessary. China has a strong government. Sometimes it makes wrong decisions, and sometimes right decisions, but they can enforce a decision in a manner that no one match. Plastic bag is an example about how easy (if enforced) to remove people's addict to plastic...
I even wonder, besides the "banned book", guns, and modern life style, there will be one more item added to the sighseeing list for tourists from China to the US or other countres in the future - the free plastic bags...
P.S. This page was actually created on October 1, 2008
"Plastic Bags in Seattle" was posted by Jian Shuo Wang at September 24, 2008 11:08 PM under (Travel » Seattle) category. Copyright: You are free to redistribute this work, as long as you keep this disclaimer and this link: http://home.wangjianshuo.com/archives/20080924_plastic_bags_in_seattle.htm
Heh, well California is getting ready to ban plastic bags soon too. I almost always say no when offered a bag for some small purchase, and I have a big supply of cloth and paper bags in my car which I re-use until they are falling apart. Of course most of the time I forget to bring them into the store with me, so to "punish"/re-train myself I carry or wheel my purchases, un-bagged, out to the car. I wonder how long it will take for me to remember to bring them in with me.
Posted by: Carroll on October 2, 2008 12:47 AMJianShou, may be you are not awared that starting 01 Jan 2009, Seattle will start to charge a Green Fee of 20 cents a bag.
Banning free plastic bag is a good thing, but rise the ecological awareness through education is something else. In Shanghai I can still see many excess packaging, moon cake is a good example. In the beverage business, most of the disposable packaging actually cost more than the content and it creates more solid waste than plastic bag.
Last month I had a dinner at Shanghai Spring, after the dinner I asked the waitress to bag the leftovers, I was given a nice and strong clear plastic box together with a nicely printed paper bag just for two dumplings, I am overwhelmed!
Posted by: stephen on October 3, 2008 3:22 AM