More
the 71 per cent of the 482 respondents to last week’s caycompass.com online
poll said they will take their own shopping bags when grocery stores start
charging for plastic bags. Cayman’s
major supermarkets started charging five cents per bag on Wednesday.
In
total, 343 people - 71.2 per cent - said they would take their own bags to the
store instead of paying the five cents.
“Of
course, there will be the inevitable times I forget, so I’ll probably end up
buying about 50 of the reusable ones - or just not use a bag, depending on what
it is,” said one person.
“Bring
my own bags as I have been doing for the past three years,” said someone else.
“It is nice to be able to do one small thing for the environment. Pity we can’t
do more.”
“This
just shows how far behind Cayman is in going green,” said another respondent.
“Consumers in other countries have been using reusable bags for over 20 years.”
“Since
moving to cayman in 1994, I’ve always wondered when the grocery stores here
would implement reusable green bags,” commented someone else. “Once they did, I
made sure to buy 2-3 and keep them in my car to use whenever I go shopping.”
“Plastic
bags should have been banned years ago,” said another respondent. “If customers
need a bag, have paper bags available as they are biodegradable. Stores should
have cloth shopping bags available at cost, or better yet, give them away for a
limited period of time.”
A
few respondents said the measure would cause them to buy fewer groceries.
“I’ll
bring my own bag, but not buy as much at one time,” said one person.
“If
you bring your own bags, but buy more groceries than expected, they should not
charge for any additional bags,” said someone else. “You brought your own
anyway, just spent more money at their shop than planned.”
Sixty-five
people - 13.5 per cent - said they would just pay the five cents per bag.
“I
use my plastic grocery bags for garbage and cat litter,” said one respondent.
“Now that they breakdown quicker, isn’t that better than purchasing the old
heavy-duty plastic garbage bags?”
“I
use the grocery bags again,” said someone else. “I am single and I use one a
week for my rubbish bin. I will have to pay for bags either way.”
“Most
people use the bags to dispose garbage, so what they will do now instead is buy
the real garbage bags, which are still made out of plastic,” said another
person. “So there will still be plastic all around. I think this is more a ploy
to start charging for plastic bags.”
Someone
else said they would buy bags, but eventually bring their own. “Currently
they’ve made it to the trunk of the car, but only rarely into the store with
me. But with a little incentive - five cents - I will get it together!”
Forty-one
people - 8.5 per cent - said they would move to another country when grocery
stores started charging for plastic bags, while 18 people - 3.7 per cent - said
they would stop going to the grocery store.
“It’s
ridiculous,” said one person.
Fifteen
people said they would stop using bags.
“What
did Caymanians do before plastic bags?” asked someone else. “Bring back thatch
baskets!”