Could a bag a day keep the litter away?
Biodegradable and compostble shopping packets may be useful in reducing the litter on our South African streets, says a reader.
ON a recent trip to the town of Harleston, England, a Berea Mail reader stumbled upon a biodegradable shopping bag while popping into a local convenience store.
After returning home with a sample of the bag, and readjusting to South Africa’s contrasting littered streets, the Morningside resident who asked not to be named, wondered why such products were not in place locally to assist in the reduction of waste within our country.
At first glance the bag could pass for an ordinary, non-biodegradable, plastic shopping packet, yet this bag is specifically designed to be compostable after use. By placing biodegradable waste into the bag, such as food or garden refuse, the waste and the bag itself will slowly break down and disappear. This means it reduces waste, and that the packet will not roll through the streets like an everlasting tumbleweed.
ALSO READ: Storm in a tea cup in Britain over eco-friendly bags
Located in the South Norfolk district of the county of Norfolk, the quaint English town is said to be very clean and well maintained. In fact, according to the reader, the majority of the areas she visited had this quality. So why is it then, she asked, that our towns and cities are often the complete opposite.
She said many English citizens seem to have a deep love and sense of pride for their country, accompanied by the fact that they understand the consequences of littering. This includes both the impact litter has on the environment, and the potential 80 pound, or R1 463, fine they will receive if they are caught littering. “This lack of pride, understanding and consequence is slowly decaying our streets into a “wasteland”,”” she said, adding that it could easily be solved by providing and educating South Africans with compostable shopping bags.
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