I just read on CNN that San Francisco has voted to ban non-recyclable plastic garbage bags. It’s funny when I read stories of new environment-friendly laws being passed in the US while it’s already the case here in Paris. Well unfortunately these plastic garbage bags haven’t been officially banned here in France but almost all large grocery stores have reduced the number of check-out lines with these bags thus discouraging their use and cutting their costs at the same time. That means if you don’t want to wait in line, you have to have your own bags, buy recyclable bags, or buy a large heavy-duty re-usable bag. We bought these big re-usable bags which are quite nice except they have one major flaw: You must remember to take them into the store with you. And since our major grocery store is in the shopping mall (kind of weird for the US but here in France it’s common and quite convenient) it’s hard to remember them. Some of the smaller grocery stores make you pay for bags, encouraging you to bring your own. And then a few small chains try the “we don’t hassle you with the bags” and give out the non-recyclable bags for free. So there is a mix. But what I think is important is that the movement is being led by the grocery stores themselves and not by a law. And we’re almost non-recyclable plastic bag-free.
This isn’t the only area where France is ahead of the US. The smoking ban, which will take place in 2008 is another. And that one I find quite ironic because France has been, up until this law, the most tolerant country in the world when it comes to smoking.
And one final bit of irony, I’ve never seen so many car batteries on the side of the road as I have here in France. It’s a unique concept: Buy a new car battery, change it in the street, and just leave the old one on the sidewalk. You may think I’m exaggerating but it happens more than you’d think, as in quite frequently. So I find it ironic that a country banning smoking and shopping bags lets people put their toxic batteries on the sidewalks. And what happens to those batteries anyway? Wait, I don’t think I want to know..
I don’t know if it’s every where in Brittany, everywhere in my dept, or just in my town, but all the local supermarkets here banded together and stopped handing out plastic bags about a year ago. It can be a bit annoying like you said if you forget to bring a reusable bag with you, but since they only cost 10 cents, it’s not a big deal – it just means we have about 20 of them lying around at home!!