Culture

In a Word . . . Cheat

I began to cheat at my local supermarket when I discovered I had drawers full of these so-called ‘re-usable’ heavy duty plastic shopping bags at home

Patsy McGarry's face
Patsy McGarry
Sat Feb 24 2018 - 00:00

Cheating is not something I ever planned to get into. I do so regularly now at the local supermarket. I recommend it. Yes, let’s start a revolution. Some have begun with smaller gestures.

In my own case it started when the local supermarket got rid of paper bags, smaller plastic bags, and only offers heavy duty plastic ones which cost 70 cent and take millenniums to “decay”.

These so called re-usable bags are excluded from a levy and so the retailer/supermarket is not obliged to pay 22 cent for each to relevant authorities. In other words they have turned the 22 cent plastic bag levy into a profit by offering customers no alternative to the heavy duty bags they provide.

In doing so they defeat the entire purpose of the levy which was introduced to protect the environment by discouraging people from using plastic bags.

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Ireland introduced the levy in March 2002 which then meant each plastic bag used would cost customers 15 cent. This was increased to 22 cent in 2007. The purpose was to reduce litter of plastic that is now proving so damaging, particularly to our seas.

Not that this concerns many of our supermarkets, or so it seems. Convenience shops on the other hand are good by comparison. They still offer a paper bag alternative and for free. Normally it takes paper two to six weeks to decompose in landfill. Plastic bags can take up to 1,000 years.

I began to cheat at my local supermarket when I discovered I had drawers full of these so-called “re-usable” heavy duty plastic shopping bags at home, each kept for when I next went shopping but which inevitably I forgot. All the better to buy another one, there being no alternative.

So, when finished paying for my shopping these days, instead of taking the advised blue token to vote for a charity the supermarket will give €1,000 every month, I take fistfuls. Huge fistfuls.

If there’s a child around I pass them to him/her because they just love to put the tokens in those slots. If not, I do it myself, no matter how long it takes.

A drawback of course is that the tokens themselves are also made of heavy duty plastic. You just can’t get away from it you know.

Cheat from Old French escheat, for fraud, deception, and Latin excadere, to fall away, fall out.

inaword@irishtimes.com