Polythene bags in cloth bag

Polythene bags in cloth bag

So many polythene bags in one cloth bag? How subtle is the question of! Recently, the Tamil Nadu government launched the 'Yellow Bag' movement. Advertisements were made of the Chief Minister walking with the people with the yellow bag. It was followed by a Pongal gift package. The above question was raised on social media all over Tamil Nadu as to whether the items in the gift package were in polythene bags.

The government also announced that in view of the time constraints in making the bags, he could bring his own bag and receive the Pongal gift items. It showed the difficulty of switching to cloth bag and the scarcity of stocks of cloth bag. There would have been no difficulty in delivering this in polythene bags. That much polythene bag is in stock.

The change that has taken place in twenty years is this polythene culture. Before that all groceries were just paper bags. There will always be a guy at the grocery store handing out scrolls of paper. He rolls several scrolls of paper and keeps them ready. The scene of that time, surrounded by thin jute of paper bags and scrolls, comes to mind as a faint shadow and fades away.

Bottles and hanging buckets in the wire basket will be ready for the purchase of oil. Now homes do not even have glass bottles and hanging buckets to buy in polythene and plastic bags or bottles and pour the oil. They are bought in disposable plastic bottles and thrown away.

Even if we switch to cloth bag it seems like we can’t get rid of the polythene that contains the items we buy in the cloth. But the yellow bag initiative is a good initiative. Gradually the use of polythene can be reduced. This is the first step towards it.

Polythene has become the culture of our daily lives. Everything from the milk, tea and water we drink comes into it. Needless to say, we are well entangled in the cultural web of plastic when the time to buy milk in mugs has gone. Gradually we are recovering from plastic and polythene which is good for our generations. The country, the home and this earth are very happy to continue the efforts slowly. This is because of the polythene and plastic we buy and the stuff our stomachs digest. When we throw that polythene and plastic in the trash, our earth mustn’t digest it!

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